Ministry axes Sheba Hospital helicopter pad

The Accountant General seeks to ban Sheba CEO Zeev Rotstein from making land deals.

Ministry of Finance Accountant General Michal Abadi-Boiangiu today officially notified Ministry of Health director general Roni Gamzo that she intends to order the Ministry of Health's controller to notify all the parties which signed the agreement with Sheba Medical Center Tel Hashomer Hospital for the parking of private helicopters or similar collaborations that the agreements were signed without authority, and that they should immediately remove all their helicopters from the hospital grounds.

The notification follows the revelation by "Globes" about the small helicopter pad that was built at the hospital without approval by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance, and without the necessary permits. The facility was intended for wealthy private patients.

Abadi-Boiangiu said that she would order the Ministry of Health controller, among other things, to "notify the Friends of Tel Hashomer and the hospital corporation that neither they nor any party affiliated with them have any authorization to grant property rights or authorize use of state property by third parties."

Abadi-Boiangiu also wrote that she intends to contact the government to revoke Sheba Medical Center CEO Prof. Zeev Rotstein's authority to sign land deal on behalf of the state, and that, before any such request to the government, Rotstein will be summoned for a hearing.

The immediate effect of this step is that Adeltech Ltd. and its owner, Uri Adelsberg, will have to remove the company's helicopter within days from the special hangar that Tel Hashomer's management had made available to them.

However, the main significance is that, for the first time, the regulator has initiated an active process to "clip the wings" of Prof. Rotstein, whom sources at the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance say went too far in his conduct with the regulator.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 10, 2014

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014

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