Underfunding puts care for 2 million citizens at risk, hospital heads say

• Author: ROSSELLA TERCATIN
• Date: 17 January 2021
• Published date: 17 January 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The managers of seven facilities gathered in front of the Finance Ministry on Sunday for the second time in the span of a few days to denounce the dramatic crisis they are facing and to call on the government to act quickly.

Among those attending the protest were Shaare Zedek director Prof. Ofer Merin, Hadassah head Prof. Zeev Rotstein, Laniado Medical Center CEO Nadav Chen, Nazareth's English Hospital director Prof. Fahed Hakim, Nazareth's Holy Family Hospital director Prof. Ibrahim Harbaji and Bnei Brak's Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center director Shlomo Rothschild.

"The battlefront that allows Israel to function has been deserted," said Rotstein. "We want to give our heart and soul to the patients, but we do not have the resources. My heart is pounding because I cannot give necessary medicines to patients in the emergency room."

"We feel humiliated, like second-class hospitals," he added, referring to the gap in funding between their facilities and hospitals directly owned and funded by the government or by the health funds.

Public hospitals in Israel are independent and rely mostly on donations.

They serve about two million people – or about 20% of the population. According to the organizers of the protests, their facilities receive about half the funds per bed than government-owned hospitals, or NIS 200 million annually compared to NIS three billion.

The rally took place in a tent filled with hospital beds representing those that will soon be empty because the hospitals will only be able to treat urgent cases.

The financial emergency happens against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, which has put unprecedented strain on the health system. According to the managers, the crisis has exposed years of neglect and underfunding.

"We operate in cities where the morbidity is high and the vaccination rate is low," said Nazareth's French Hospital director Dr. Nail Elias, highlighting the importance of solving the crisis both in light of the pandemic and for what will come after it.

"After half a...