State Comptroller Report Warns Israeli Health System Not Ready for Epidemic

The Office of State Comptroller’s Matanyahu Engelman issued a report on Monday warning that Israel’s health system is not prepared to deal with an epidemic.

The report, while released now, was written before the outbreak of the coronavirus, and notes that the government did not draw up sufficient plans to deal with an epidemic or stockpile a sufficient amount of medicine and ventilators, among other shortcomings.

A statement from the Office of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who was health minister during part of the period covered in the report, acknowledged that while there is room for improvement, the report is not applicable to the coronavirus.

“There is no country in the world that could forecast or prepare for the spread of this virus.

“No health system in the world, even the best one, was prepared to deal with the epidemic.”