Rome's Israelite Hospital risks closure says commissioner

(ANSA) - Rome, December 15 - The Israelite Hospital of Rome risks closure due to excessive Italian bureaucracy, its commissioner Alfonso Celotto told ANSA on Tuesday.
    The hospital's former administration were caught up in an investigation into major fraud of Italy's national health system, which led to several arrests of senior officials and medical personnel in October.
    Celotto said the hospital was facing bureaucratic delays to reopening after the Lazio region asked for an additional commissioner to be installed. The candidate chosen for this post is a magistrate and needs approval from judicial authorities.
    "Bureaucracy is killing the Israelite Hospital of Rome and it risks not being able to take up its operations again and having to lay off 700 employees if a solution is not found before Christmas," Celotto said.
    The hospital has been closed for almost two months and is losing thousands of euros a day, he said.
    It is the only hospital in Rome that has a synagogue and offers kosher food, he said. It has historic ties to Rome's Jewish community but serves people of all faiths and ethnicities.