Ministry of Health: Assuta Rishon Lezion hospital will reduce the amount of fertilization treatments

Almost three months after the affair broke, the Director General of the Ministry of Health, Professor Nachman Ash, and the head of the Ministry's Medicine Division, Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, presented today (Sunday) at a press conference, the results of the hearing and the decisions of the Ministry of Health regarding the failure of fertilization in Assuta Rishon Lezion. This, following the case where embryos were exchanged between female patients in the medical center's IVF unit.
Prof. Ash announced that it was decided to reduce the amount of fertilization treatments at the hospital by 50%, from 10,000 to 5,000 per year. "This is a difficult and complex incident, and we would like things like this to never happen," said the Director General of the Ministry of Health. "There is a professional and legal complexity to genetics and parenting. This is an event with systemic consequences, and we will have to draw systemic lessons." Ash said that he decided to reduce the department and not close it completely, despite the criticism. "An easy decision could have been made to close, but it would have hurt the patients, and we think it is wrong."
Prof. Ash added that the office has yet to find out how the malfunction happened, and that after ruling out the first potential couple as the parents of the baby girl, "it was decided to stop the search this way." The Director General of the Ministry of Health emphasized that when the deficiencies are corrected, Basuta will receive permission to return to full activity.
Asuta Rishon Lezion Hospital stated in response that they accept the decision of the Ministry of Health "and this is in continuation of the decision it made earlier, not to accept new patients, until the end of the examination processes in the department and until the decision of the Ministry of Health. As indicated by the Ministry of Health, most of the improvements have already been implemented in the unit, and include upgraded means and infrastructure, and in the future technological solutions concerning the identification processes and the safety of the patients, with the aim of leading the highest standards in IVF treatments in Israel and in the world. At Asuta, they emphasize that there is continuous contact and a professional and sensitive dialogue with the patients who were treated in close proximity to the mother, and all of them receive a response, and continued care and support According to their request".