For weeks now doctors have been very concerned that fear of contracting COVID-19 has kept many people away from the hospital even when they develop symptoms of serious illness.

For that reason cardiologists at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem’s Irma and Paul Milstein Heart Center have launched a hotline for patients to speak with staff doctors. Despite a public campaign urging anyone with signs of a heart attack to come immediately to the coronavirus-free wing of Hadassah Ein Kerem or to the coronavirus-free Mount Scopus hospital, there have been cases of patients who hesitated and came too late.

“These patients, young and old, arrive in serious condition and suffer from permanent damage because they failed to come at the right time,” says senior cardiologist Dr. Gabby Elbaz-Greener. “Tragically, we’re unable to help a number of them who could have been saved if they’d come sooner.”

The hotline is run under the supervision of Director of Interventional Cardiology Prof. Haim Danenberg.

Family doctors in the community have been provided with a dedicated phone service they can access if they are concerned about a patient’s health. Even prior to the spread of COVID-19, Hadassah’s cardiologists were conducting outreach programs on heart education for Jerusalem community doctors.