Moshe Bar Siman-Tov to Leave Health Ministry in Coming Weeks

Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman-Tov has told Health Minister Haim Katz that he will leave his post in the coming weeks, the ministry announced on November 3. His service totals about nine years across two terms. He will organize an orderly handover and a period of overlap with the person appointed to succeed him. Bar Siman-Tov said: “I am finishing my role knowing that Israel’s health system is strong, professional and prepared for every challenge.” He credited the dedication of health-system employees and thanked Katz, previous ministers and the ministry’s leadership and partner health organizations. Katz thanked him for his public service and professionalism during complex periods, and for their cooperation on medical services and responses to patients’ needs. The ministry said his tenures had included the COVID-19 pandemic and the Swords of Iron war. It described the health system’s treatment of thousands of wounded people, reception of returned hostages and maintenance of services during the fighting. It also credited him with developing and implementing the national mental-health program responding to national trauma, and with strengthening medical infrastructure and services in peripheral areas. In the coming months, Bar Siman-Tov is expected to join Columbia University in New York as a research fellow, according to the ministry. His planned work will examine how health systems confront national trauma, focusing on Israel’s experience in recent years. The announcement did not name a successor or give a precise departure date.