Knesset report reveals: From the first pulse of 300 standards in the health system promised in April - 156 staffed • MK Roll warns: "This coming winter may be a breaking point"
The corona wards in the hospitals have been at peak occupancy for patients in critical condition for weeks and there is a shortage of doctors in the corona wards, internal medicine and intensive care units.
On April 6, the Ministry of Health announced that it would immediately assign 300 new standards to doctors in corona wards. How many of them are manned? About half. Despite promises and agreements for additions amounting to 700-650 physician standards since the beginning of the crisis, in practice only 156 standards have been added and staffed. Hospitals, which are in deficit, were required to absorb physicians from their revenue budgets.
PM Netanyahu on Dealing with the Second Wave of the Corona // Archive Photo: GPO
Information provided to the Knesset Research and Information Center, at the request of MK Idan Roll (Yesh Atid), shows that three months after the Ministry of Health announced in April the addition of 300 standards for doctors, only 200 standards were added and only 156 were actually staffed - slightly more From half.
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This is the "first pulse" of medical personnel since the beginning of the corona crisis. In addition, a month ago, on July 20, Health Minister Joel (July) Edelstein announced the addition of another 400 medical standards, following a strike by the brothers and sisters, when 250 standards were to be added immediately.
A source in the Ministry of Health admits that even these standards have not yet been staffed and that "only last Thursday were talks held with all hospital administrators regarding the absorption of doctors. It is impossible to absorb so many doctors in a short period. Hopefully within a week we will see a change." However, field officials point out that hospitals, particularly government ones, have begun accepting doctors in recent weeks.
The Knesset Research and Information Center report, which refers only to the addition of standards issued in April, states that "About three months after this announcement, 200 physician standards were allocated to hospitals, which is two-thirds of the addition of standards announced by the ministry in April. The ministry did not explain in its response the reasons why only 200 of the 300 standards it stated were assigned, "it was written.
The Ministry of Health avoided answering the center's question about the budget devoted to standards. But from the agreement with the hospitals, it appears that the employment of the doctors is expected to be financed from the hospitals' revenues, and if the revenues do not cover the expenditure - a budget for the issue was promised from the Ministry of Finance. Which hospitals did the new doctors reach? Out of 200 standards, 99 standards were allocated to the state hospitals, 63 standards to Clalit hospitals, and 37 standards to other public hospitals.
Get ready now
The Ministry of Health's response states that one standard has been assigned to each inpatient department of a hospital. But while in Israel there are 110 departments (each of which lacks 4-2 standards, according to the Association of Internal Medicine), the data transmitted by the Ministry of Health to the Knesset shows that only 80 of the 156 standards reached the internal medicine departments. The devices are intended for departments of emergency medicine, intensive care, anesthesia and infections.
An examination of the Knesset's Information and Research Center shows that in 4 out of 28 hospitals, not all the standards that the hospital was supposed to receive according to the standard key were assigned. In Poria in Tiberias, only 5 out of 9 standards (56%) were staffed, in Meir only 4 out of 11 (36%), in the valley, only one standard was staffed out of 8 allocated to the hospital and in Yoseftal and the Sharon 0%. At Shaare Zedek, 6 out of 10 doctors' standards were added.
However, there are hospitals that have staffed the full addition of their standards, including Assuta Ashdod, Beilinson, Soroka, Ichilov, Sheba, Assaf Harofe, Barzilai, Wolfson and Bnei Zion.
MK Idan Roll, the initiator of the MMM report, said that the public health system was in a bad state even before the corona and is now collapsing. “Entire internal wards have been converted to treat the corona, and there are still not enough beds or doctors for the winter. The coming winter could be a turning point in the public health system, if we do not prepare properly now. "
At a discussion held last week in the Knesset's Finance Committee, Shaare Zedek's CEO, Dr. Ofer Marin, admitted that "at this stage we did not receive any standards. We only received papers." He added that "none of the public (independent) hospitals have received standards."
"The rapid and complete staffing of the 400 standards of doctors and hospitals in the hospitals, which the Ministries of Finance and Health have committed to, is one of the important components in preparing for the coming winter and the strength of the public health system," says Dr. Zeev Feldman. The Association of State Physicians and Deputy Chairman of the Medical Association. “Hospital administrators are working in the field to staff the standards issued immediately, and indeed there is a significant staffing of physicians. However, it is important to release all barriers and allow full staffing of all devices. The Ministry of Finance must allocate the budgets immediately. "
