Center for the Defence of the Individual - Following lengthy battle: Police to reduce use of escort for ambulances called to East Jerusalem with the exception of destinations where public disturbances are expected
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חזרה לעמוד הקודם
01.03.2012

Following lengthy battle: Police to reduce use of escort for ambulances called to East Jerusalem with the exception of destinations where public disturbances are expected

On July 8, 2010, a person suffering from epilepsy collapsed in HaMoked’s waiting room. HaMoked staff urgently called for an ambulance. The operator who took the call said an ambulance was on the way and that someone should meet it in the street. Ten minutes later, in another phone call to Magen David Adom (emergency medical services), HaMoked again was told that the ambulance was on its way. After waiting for another 30 minutes, HaMoked staff called Magen David Adom for the third time, and were told that the ambulance was waiting for a police escort, which is protocol with respect to calls from East Jerusalem, where HaMoked is located.

As the wait for the ambulance continued, a passerby with first aid knowledge agreed to go into HaMoked to help. He managed to bring the patient back to consciousness and the call for an ambulance – that never came – was cancelled.

HaMoked informed Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHR) of the incident.

In February 2012, after a long battle waged by PHR and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which included correspondence with the Ministry of Health, Magen David Adom and the Israel Police, the police finally notified that: “police escort for ambulances will be decreased and required only in villages where public disturbances are expected”.

HaMoked hopes that with the new procedure, situations in which ambulances called to East Jerusalem to provide emergency medical services are held up waiting for unnecessary escort become a thing of the past.

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