East Jerusalem Catholic hospital gets coronavirus unit for Palestinians

By Judith Sudilovsky

Catholic News Service

JERUSALEM (CNS) — When the Israeli Ministry of Health asked St. Joseph’s Hospital to set up a coronavirus unit, the hospital had it completed within a week.

Jamil Koussa, general director of the hospital, said normally it would take 20 days to prepare such an infectious disease unit, which requires special negative pressure pumps to clear the air of infectious germs, a special communication setup between the patients’ rooms and medical staff, and surveillance cameras. St. Joseph’s Hospital, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition, closed all its departments except the maternity ward in order to set up the 28-bed coronavirus wing.