While the corona wards in hospitals are busy, and medical staff and administrators fear the erosion of existing manpower and the departure of isolation teams, since March only 251 new doctors have been admitted to the hospitals.
As hospitals cease to accept corona patients and cease non-urgent activities, the following alarming and outrageous figures are revealed: Out of 700-650 physician standards promised to hospitals since the onset of the crisis, less than half were actually staffed.
Photo: Knesset Spokeswoman
While the corona wards in the hospitals are busy, and the medical staff and administrators are afraid of the erosion of the existing workforce and the departure of isolation teams, since March only 251 new doctors have been admitted to the hospitals - according to the Israel Today survey.
In total, 700-650 doctors from the beginning of the crisis were to be admitted to the hospitals, as mentioned.
In the first wave of morbidity, in March, hospitals were given an additional 300-250 standards;
On July 20, the Minister of Health, Joel (July) Edelstein, announced the addition of 400 additional doctors' standards, following a strike by the brothers and sisters.
These numbers are very important.
The strength of the hospitals, their capacity threshold and their willingness to accept difficult patients are the basis for the decision on closure measures, so the addition of standards to the medical workforce may affect the severity of the measures imposed on the public.
Thus, for example, in a report from the beginning of the month by the team of "barometer" experts, who advise Prof. Roni Gamzo, it was stated that "there is a marked increase in staff attrition in some hospitals and their fear of the growing wave of morbidity.
In some of the institutions, the corona staff have not been replaced for a long time. "The report also noted the high number of patients and isolators among the medical staff, an increase that" significantly contributes to increasing the workload on the medical staff. "
"Ministry of Finance guilty"
As of yesterday morning, there are 772 staff members in the State of Israel diagnosed with verified blues in Corona - 167 of them brothers and sisters and 1,010 doctors.
In addition, 3,157 staff members are in isolation, including 889 nursing staff and 430 medical staff.
"This is a failure in the making," warns the chairman of the State Physicians Association, Dr. Zeev Feldman, "gave standards to the hospitals, but wrapped their staffing in the staff of 250 standards given in the first beat. "The problem with the Ministry of Health is not how many soul machines there are, but the medical staff who are collapsing. Doctors need to be hired today and trained so that they can treat patients as early as winter."
Those who find it particularly difficult to recruit new doctors are the independent hospitals (non-governmental or publicly owned), including Shaare Zedek, Laniado, Maayan Hayeshua and the hospitals in Nazareth.
"There is no significance to the addition of standards in independent public hospitals, because we have to finance the absorption of doctors ourselves and we are not able to absorb any doctor," says Hadassah CEO Prof. Zeev Rothstein. "We can barely pay salaries.
Why should hospital administrators beg for money?
I did not catch a single doctor.
"My hospital is in a convalescence agreement, and I am even required to cut staff."
"It will take another two months"
As we published in "Israel Today", a report by the Knesset Information and Research Center about a month ago, prepared at the request of MK Idan Roll, found that only 156 standards were added to the hospitals - about half of the standards promised in the first wave.
The Ministry of Health stated that "a total of 251 physician standards and 1,275 nurses' standards have been staffed since the beginning of March. To last at least another two months, because they depend, among other things, on the dates of the graduates' licensing exams. "
Emergency system
Meanwhile, the medical institutions are approaching the threshold of capacity: the Shaare Zedek hospitals in Jerusalem and Assuta in Ashdod announced yesterday that they will stop accepting Corona patients.
Due to congestion, and with the approval of the Ministry of Health, they asked MDA to refer other hospitals to Corona patients in need of hospitalization.
The director general of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Hezi Levy, warned yesterday that in view of the high infection rates, 300-200 severe, respiratory or critical corona patients will be added within ten days - a fact that will bring hospitals to the limit. "I ask you without exception to comment "This situation as an emergency of the health system," Prof. Levy wrote to the directors of hospitals and geriatric institutions. He mentioned that every hospital should immediately open a new corona ward if it reaches 80% occupancy in the existing ward, and a discount to stop non-urgent surgeries "on According to the capabilities of the hospitals. "
At the same time, the director of the Galilee Medical Center, Prof. Masad Barhum, announced yesterday that due to the increase in the number of patients in a difficult and critical condition, he intends to open a fourth corona ward, at the expense of an internal ward.
"We will have to use anesthetics as part of a team that will treat critically ill patients, so we will have no choice but to postpone non-urgent surgeries," said Prof. Barhoum, adding: "I very much hope we will not be Italy, but I must say that as time goes on this".