Avi Balashnikov, the interim board chairman of Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, resigned last weekend because Health Minister Yael German had failed to find a permanent replacement by an agreed-upon deadline, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Moti Debi, a member of the board of directors, also resigned.
The resignations are the latest development in an ongoing budget crisis at the Hadassah Medical Organization that began early this year.
The hospital declared bankruptcy in February and, after weathering an employees’ strike, finalized a bailout deal with the Israeli government and the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America, which built and partially funds the hospital.
Since the crisis began, the hospital has been forced to search for a new director general, as well as a new chair of the board of directors. The hospital is still struggling financially and saw eight of its doctors quit in recent weeks, Haaretz reported. — jta