From: Tel Mond Bloc Documentation Archive – Writings of Eliezer Esterin, pp. 146–153
Dr. Haim Walgeron spoke about health services in Tel Mond during the 1940s:
When I arrived in 1945 to replace the late Dr. Costa, I found the clinics in the Tel Mond bloc in poor condition, and the level of cleanliness was not up to standard.
The equipment in the clinics was meager and insufficient to provide general medical care as it was understood and expected at the time. Transportation was difficult, and getting from the bloc to Beilinson Hospital or the central clinic on Zeitlin Street in Tel Aviv could easily take half a day or more. Under such conditions, the local physician was required to handle cases that went far beyond the usual responsibilities of general medicine.
I should add that the number of specialist doctors in the country was much smaller than it is today. As a result, we had no choice but to take on medical tasks that, in better circumstances, would have been handled only by specialists.
In addition to all this, the doctor in the bloc was also involved in security matters and had to be prepared for emergency situations — both due to tension with neighboring Arab villages and the British Mandate authorities. The doctor often had to participate in semi-underground security work.
When I took up my new position, I saw it as my duty first to improve the medical equipment in the clinics of the bloc, with special attention given to the Tel Mond clinic, where the most important instruments were concentrated — equipment that was not available in the other clinics.
My second goal was to ensure that all clinics had at least basic laboratory equipment. Once again, the Tel Mond clinic received priority and was equipped with valuable devices such as a microscope and tools for conducting more complex chemical tests.
Cleanliness improved, and over time there were also changes in nursing staff. The supply of medicines was brought to a level that allowed us to last for two to three months without outside resupply, even during curfews or other disruptions — and patients never felt a shortage of medication.
As the struggle against the British intensified and the War of Independence approached, I divided my time between my daily work as a local physician and my role as district doctor for the Haganah, which required traveling between all the settlements in the region. I was not willing to accept that there would be hours when no doctor was available nearby, so I arranged to bring in another physician. I found one doctor in a nearby settlement who was no longer practicing, and convinced him to return to the profession in a partial and temporary capacity — that was Dr. Ettinger.
Around that same time, the bloc absorbed a sizeable group of children from Tehran and Transnistria, which added to the workload in Tel Mond.
I also viewed public education about medical and sanitary issues as an essential part of my work. I was convinced that a doctor cannot operate in a vacuum — it is the doctor’s duty to foster public understanding and cooperation.