Shaare Zedek security manager says Palestinian ambulance patient ‘can die’

Channel 10 reports that Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances at times find themselves delayed by security guards when they try to enter Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center with patients in urgent need of care.

In one recent incident aired by the network this evening, a Red Crescent ambulance reaches the hospital entrance. A member of the ambulance staff tells a guard that 13-year-old East Jerusalem resident Nur a-Din Sanduka has a critical head wound.

In a recording of the exchange, the security shift manager is heard chastising the guard, demanding, “What are you letting in Red Crescent?”

The guard replies that a medic “said [Sanduka] is going to die.”

The manager replies, “He can die. Security.”

The report notes that Red Crescent ambulance crews have complained about Shaare Zedek’s security in the past, and even faced criticism from the Health Ministry over the delays.

In a statement to Channel 10, the hospital acknowledges the incident, condemns it and says the security manager has been removed from her post.

“The ambulance [carrying Sanduka] wasn’t delayed and was let in immediately,” the hospital notes. “Shaare Zedek condemns the security [manager’s] comment. She was a contract worker and not a hospital employee, and has been removed from her post.”