PA owes 2 East Jerusalem hospitals 240 million shekels in unpaid bills
Nov. 29, 2016 9:43 A.M. (Updated: Nov. 29, 2016 11:52 A.M.)
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=774171

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Two major Palestinian hospitals in occupied East
Jerusalem have reported having serious financial difficulties, alleging that
the Palestinian Authority (PA) owed them around 240 million shekels
($62,459,337).

The al-Maqasid and Augusta Victoria hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem's
Mount of Olives neighborhood -- which serve thousands of patients referred
by the PA Ministry of Health from the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip --
released a joint statement on Monday saying that the PA owed the hospitals
both a total of 240 million shekels in unpaid bills.

"The hospitals are ready to accept installment payments from the PA in order
to be able to pay back their debts to the companies who supply the hospitals
with medicines and medical equipment, and to pay salaries among other
accumulative debts,” the statement said.

The statement warned that if the PA continued to delay payments, both
hospitals would not be able to buy the medical equipment they urgently
needed, and consequently would not be able to receive patients who needed
surgeries starting on Tuesday.

In coordination with the hospitals’ employees unions, a protest was
scheduled for Monday in front of offices of the Palestinian Ministry of
Finance in Ramallah, but were postponed after the hospitals “received
positive signs" from the ministry.