Despite some shortening of queues, patients in Israel still wait too long to queue for surgery • This leads to health damage, waste and corruption • The responsibility? In all • Interpretation

• Fourier Hospital // Photo: Gil Eliyahu - Ginny

Data from the Medical Histadrut's Queue Survey indicate improvement, and some of the hospitals' surgery queues have been shortened. In doing so, the Ministry of Health should be flattered that its efforts are finally starting to look to improve the availability of health care in the public health system.

However, the state of the surgery queues is still very difficult and it harms tens of thousands of Israelis a year - when the state comptroller already warned a few years ago that the surgery queues could adversely affect patients awaiting surgery, thereby improving their medical condition and reducing the chances of surgery.

In addition, the long wait for surgery encourages the public to choose private medicine and encompass themselves while more private and supplemental insurance. Finally, the queues can also lead to corruption cases, with patients being asked by doctors to pay bribes to advance the queue for surgery, as part of the "black medicine" available in hospitals in Israel.

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The default of surgery queues also concerns the malfunctioning of the HMOs, which in most cases remain indifferent to waiting months or even years for surgery, rather than always ensuring that members of the HMO receive the most available queue available in the country, regardless of the hospital district's restrictive arrangements and agreements with the hospitals. . Until now, the Ministry of Health has failed miserably to force the HMOs to take care of the shortest queues for members of the HMOs, thus hurting the public's health and gaining confidence in the public health system.

According to the new survey data, Fouria Hospital surgery queues are the most prolonged and unusual on any medical and public scale, and these data also raise questions about the functioning of the Ministry of Health - which has failed severely in hospital supervision and also questions about hospital management led by Dr. Erez On Who has run the hospital since 2013 and wrote on the hospital's website that "he is proud to lead and promote the hospital to improve the health and well-being of area residents."

The hospital's website also states that in 2013, the hospital received the American Standard Medical Certificate Gold Medal, which is "a guarantee of quality and safety and indicates that the hospital is in the forefront with the world's leading medical centers." The hospital website does not explain how this is in line with the long queues in Israel for surgery and what a true connection is between this medal and the quality of safety and the availability of hospital care.

As the Ministry of Health has already announced, Dr. On himself will soon be leaving hospital management for the important role of managing the hospital division of the Ministry of Health - responsible for all government hospitals in Israel. Hopefully, in his new role Dr. On will succeed The queues for surgery in all the hospitals in the country, far more than he has managed so far when he managed the Fourier House for the past 7 years.