The problem is that by law, or by instruction from the Ministry of Health, an ambulance has to take any woman picked up to give birth to whatever hospital she wants to go to. Anywhere in the country.
That means, the ambulances are being used as a taxi service, which is common enough, to get people to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, or Maayanei Hayeshua Hospital in Bnei Braq or elsewhere. This takes the ambulance out of Bet Shemesh for a significant amount of hours - the ambulance has to drive there, get the woman in and take care of whatever procedural things they need to do, and then drive back. All this time, the ambulance is not available for emergencies in Bet Shemesh.
A local paper, one with a bad attitude to Haredim in general, is blaming haredim for the shortage of ambulances - the haredi women use the ambulances as a free ride to Netanya or Bnei Braq instead of going to give birth in Jerusalem (which is where logically Bet Shemesh ambulances should be directed to).
The problem is not with the Haredim. They are doing nothing wrong. It is not their fault Bet Shemesh does not have enough ambulances, nor must they not not go to Netanya, if that is what MDA and the Health Ministry allows.
The real problem is that it is allowed in general.
Maybe Bet Shemesh needs more ambulances. If they can get more, great. Not happening in any significant way any time soon.
Maybe Bet Shemesh needs to have a hospital or birthing center built somewhere in the region. If that will happen, great, but I don't think it will solve the problem. Many women will still want to go to the hospitals of their choice around the country for a variety of reasons. Also, this is not going to happen so quickly.
The real solution is for MDA to stop allowing the use of the ambulance as a taxi service. Ambulances should be kept within regions. Ambulances from Bet Shemesh should not be allowed, except in case of emergency or with a special order from the Health Minister or head of MDA perhaps, to go any further than the hospitals in Jerusalem. Ambulances in other regions should be allowed to only travel to hospitals within their region.
If a woman wants to go to Netanya, she has that right to, but she should have to find her own way there, such as her own car, a taxi or whatever, or bite the bullet and go to a closer hospital.
It is not the fault of the haredim. It is the fault of a bad rule in MDA and in the Health Ministry that allows it. They should recognize that cities and regional councils have limited resources and cannot afford to have their ambulances offline for such long periods of time.
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