We were recently informed that the National Planning and Building Council has decided to submit the National Outline Plan for the Health System (TAMA 1/20) of the Ministry of Health and the Planning Administration for comments by the district committees. This is the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that the entities have come together for large-scale work and built a long-term plan that will develop and strengthen the existing and future health system.
It could indeed have been huge news. However, these days it is a little difficult for us to celebrate, since we are dealing with an equally big problem – when the scariest word in recent months, 'relocation', hovers over us, more relevant than ever and more threatening than ever, since it means the drain of the Jewish mind out of the State of Israel.
Why is it hard for us to celebrate? We will explain
On the one hand: for the first time in Israel, according to a strategic national master plan of the Ministry of Health and the Planning Administration, 9 new general hospitals are expected to be established, most of them in the periphery: Karmiel, Kiryat Gat, Hod Hasharon, Kiryat Ata (now in doubt), Beit Shemesh, Netanya, Modi'in, Be'er Sheva (Peres Hospital) and Harish, as well as an expansion of Ichilov Hospital.
This is in addition to 20 geriatric hospitalization institutions that will be established, among others, in the cities of Jerusalem, Acre, Migdal HaEmek and Netivot; 5 rehabilitation hospitals to be built, among others, in Karmiel and Be'er Sheva; Eleven emergency medical centers to be established, among others, in Katzrin, Kiryat Shmona and Mitzpe Ramon.
On the other hand, if the situation continues like this, in a few years there will be no medical workforce. Over a thousand doctors threaten relocation, hundreds of Israeli medical students are forced to work abroad and most of them do not want to return to Israel at all;
There's a lot of talk, but what actually happens?
In the end, like everything in Israel, a lot of talk is done, and in practice, a child in the periphery or critically ill is forced to go to the treatment center. The plan, which was promoted by the Planning Administration, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, and is expected to provide a response to Israel's 100th year (2048), was prepared after professional and in-depth work to examine the health institutions from a long-term perspective. As part of the work, extensive consultations were held with officials in the medical system, as well as coordination with local authorities, government ministries and various other bodies.
In Beit Shemesh, it should be noted, the Jerusalem District Committee recently announced the promotion of the plan to build a hospital in the city. The plan includes about 770 beds that will provide a response to a population of about 360,<> residents in the city of Beit Shemesh and the Mateh Yehuda area. In addition to the hospital itself, the program includes hospitalization departments, an emergency hospital, medical services, medical clinics and institutes, laboratories, buildings for laboratories and medical research and training of medical crews, a motel, helipads and more. But, again, as of now, these are plans on paper, and at the end of the day, they also need to be implemented.
Israel's population is expected to grow to about 15 million people in the target year, and the share of third and fourth age students is expected to increase significantly. The plan presents the spatial layout and marks the areas required for the development of the hospitalization system in the country, with the aim of meeting the needs of the projected population, including geriatric, psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitalization services. The plan implements principles such as reducing spatial inequality in access to health services, a significant transition in the provision of services from hospitals to the community (HMOs and home hospitalization), and the need to adapt the system to future changes.
According to National Planning and Building Council Chairman Natan Elnatan, "The plan is a real reform in the planning of the health system towards 2050, and I am pleased and welcome its advancement. The plan will include planning infrastructure for the establishment of 9 new hospitals throughout the country, geriatric, rehabilitation and psychiatric hospitals, and the establishment of 11 emergency medical centers from the Golan Heights in the north to Mitzpe Ramon in the south, and will provide a life-saving first response in these places."
Hospitals on paper
Let's take a topical example, the planned hospital in Kiryat Ata. This is a hospital that is under the plan of the Planning Administration. As we said, plans separately, dreams separately and reality separately – when patients in the Krayot will probably have to keep waiting.
It was recently reported that the Supreme Court accepted the appeal of the Regional Government Center and the Kibbutz Movement against the National Planning Committee plan, and decided to reduce the construction plan to a new quarter in Kiryat Ata, which proposed promoting the construction of a new metropolitan hospital in the city for the residents of the Krayot. As part of the Supreme Court's decision to reduce the plan, it was also decided that agricultural land would not be taken from Kfar Bialik.
The plan referred to by the Supreme Court was advanced by the Israel Land Authority in cooperation with the Kiryat Ata Municipality and covers an area of about 6,400 dunams. Prior to the Supreme Court's intervention, the original plan allocated land for the establishment of an institution of higher education as well as a regional hospital on an area of 180 dunams, which was supposed to include about 2,200 hospital beds, of which beds would be allocated for geriatric hospitals and beds for psychiatric hospitals.
Beit Shemesh Hospital Imaging Kolker Kolker Epstein Architects,
And again, we will not spoil the joy. This is indeed great news for the State of Israel in general and for the periphery in particular. At the same time, we know that construction plans planned for at least another 25 years, at the moment, are nothing more than talk in the air, and with all the current dangers hovering over us these days – let us leave the champagne in France.
A plan describing what will happen in the coming year in health institutions, photo: Illustration: freepik
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