Today, the media reported that PLO head Saeb Erekat was connected to an ECMO machine in Israel’s Hadassah Hospital.
While many continue to praise Israel’s “humanity” for treating an enemy who has been one of the most prominent inciters of terrorism and hatred against Israel, it is important to know several things:
1. Israel only has a few dozen ECMO machines, each one costing approximately 250,000 NIS and an additional 100,000 NIS to operate per week (according to Israel’s Clalit Health Services).
2. Operating the machine is very difficult, and Israel only has some 30 technicians qualified to do so.
3. For as long as the patient is hooked up to the machine, an ICU nurse needs to watch over the patient 24/7.
4. Yigal Kasif, Director of ECMO Service at Sheba Medical Center – the largest hospital in the Middle East – said: “The price for treating a patient with ECMO is reducing the amount of patients in the Intensive Care Unit. The ECMO machine requires a hysterical amount of manpower. You need double the amount of manpower.”
5. Due to this, there are Israelis who will not get the proper care they need and will possibly die because of the taxpayer-funded VIP treatment given to Erekat.
Oh, the humanity.
