An injured person asked me: 'Is my missing leg worth only 2,500 shekels?'" Head of the Rehabilitation Division Limor Luria sums up her tenure in one of the most sensitive roles in the country
Limor Luria, the outgoing head of the Rehabilitation Division at the Ministry of Defense, sums up a turbulent tenure. In her first interview after leaving her post, she describes the dramatic decision to throw out old work rules after October 7, the 'Rehabilitation Now - Medical Committees Later' reform, and dealing with tens of thousands of new wounded. She addresses claims of secret investigations to find fake wounded, and recounts the moment a former police officer set himself on fire before her eyes.
Limor Luria, the outgoing head of the Rehabilitation Division at the Ministry of Defense, sums up a turbulent five-year tenure. In her first interview after leaving her post, she describes how the day after October 7 she realized she had to throw all the rules out the window and reinvent the protocol from scratch. She tells of the 'Rehabilitation Now - Medical Committees Later' reform, under which division personnel were stationed in 23 hospitals as early as October 10, and every wounded person arriving by helicopter received immediate care without bureaucracy. Luria rejects claims of secret investigations to find fake wounded, and returns to the terrible moment when a former police officer set himself on fire before her eyes. According to her, the division took in 26,000 new patients in two years, a 67% increase, and its budget grew from 3.7 billion shekels to 10.7 billion. The number of employees grew from 230 to 504, with another 280 expected to join. Luria emphasizes the humanization of the system, with an employee assigned to each wounded person, and the decision to provide free mental health treatments also to family members.