Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Tuesday that the 'Tipat Halav' baby clinics would not be privatized. Olmert, who made the announcement following a meeting with Health Minister Yaakov Ben-Yizri, said that the Health Ministry would receive a budget hike in order to continue operating the baby clinics.

"The privatization was the correct move economically - but would have hurt the public," Olmert said.

Olmert's decision promises that the baby clinics will not be transferred to the Health Maintenance Organizations.

	Advertisement

In the meeting, Olmert said that the "Tipot Halav" baby clinics are one of the few services that the government can supply directly to its citizens in a manner that is better than private companies.

"I think that the service should even be expanded and supply all the health needs that children up to the age of six need. Despite the fact that transferring the service to the HMOs would have been more efficient, I still believe that the service would have been harmed and that is why I don?t want it to be moved," Olmert said.

Olmert and Ben-Yizri agreed that the Health Ministry budget would be receive an extra NIS 50 million in 2008 and an extra NIS 120 million in 2009.

The Nurses department of the Histadrut labor federation was pleased by the prime minister's announcement. Chairman of the Public Health Branch in the Nurses department of the Histadrut, Moria Ashkenazi, said "the privatization of the baby clinics would have caused irreversible damage to babies. We are happy that our struggle in the past three years against the Finance Ministry has finally bore fruit."

Chairman of the Medical department of the Histadrut labor federation, Dr. Yoram Balshar, also praised the decision. "We must learn from the miserable experience of other countries who privatized their health services. "Tipot Halav" are in dire need of a budget hike after the Finance Ministry cut its budget in an attempt to privatize the service."