As revealed in "Israel Today", the chairman of the Israel Psychiatric Association, recently raised an unprecedented criticism of the basket committee when he claimed discrimination against psychiatric patients • Although the committee vehemently rejected the allegations, the sharp criticism requires it and the Ministry of Health to recalculate
Drug Basket Committee - Archive
Photography:
GPO
1.
This is an impressive public and national achievement that the drug basket committee in the Ministry of Health succeeded in its work yesterday with a budget of about half a billion shekels.
All this coincides with the difficult national struggle against the deadly corona epidemic and the ongoing closures alongside the successful effort of senior committee members from the Ministry of Health, Dr. Osnat Luxenburg and Tal Morgenstein, in obtaining the corona vaccines for Israel.
The committee announced yesterday its new decisions, according to which another 117 new drugs and medical technologies will be added to the state drug basket and will receive about 170,000 Israelis diagnosed with a long list of serious diseases, some fatal and some diseases that increase the risk of coronary heart disease, heart and diabetes. .
Submission of the recommendations of the basket committee // Photo: GPO
2.
Why only in mid-February?
The committee's deliberations usually end at the end of December each year, while this year the hearings lasted another month and a half and in practice a two-month delay in when patients could receive the new coveted drugs from HMOs and the delay could be very difficult for some patients. The innovative drug Tricafta has indeed entered the basket, but every day of waiting may bring it closer to a stage where it will no longer be able to receive the drug and will have to undergo a lung transplant for all its dangers.
In the Corona era, the basket committee was expected to hold zoom meetings, even if it was clear that physical sitting was preferable, in order to shorten the discussion time and shorten the suffering for the patients.
3.
Why only NIS 550 million?
The Ministry of Finance will budget the additions to the basket at NIS 550 million, with NIS 50 million being transferred by the committee to important but not entirely mandated issues, such as the establishment of lung rehabilitation institutes, which are very essential, but since when did the basket committee fund their operation or establishment ?
Will the budget for updating the emergency room renovation budget be transferred next year?
The budget for updating the basket needs to increase significantly so that each year more essential medicines can enter, and in addition it is important to allow the committee to budget a new medicine in a partial budget at the expense of an additional budget to be guaranteed in the committee the following year.
According to senior officials in the committee, this year representatives of the Ministry of Finance did not allow this to the committee, thus, in practice, this year prevented the entry of other essential drugs into the basket as the very expensive drug for the rare genetic disease "Murcio" from which only about 25 patients suffer.
4.
Why not to psychiatry?
One of the most important and challenging struggles around the basket committee this year was over the technologies for treating psychiatric patients, including around the innovative technologies for surgery using brain stimulation to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder and pacemaker implantation in the neck that helps treat depression.
In both cases, these are surgeries for patients who have not been able to treat all the existing drugs and which psychiatrists have also defined as life-saving treatments, since these patients tragically tend to end their lives.
However, as revealed in "Israel Today", Dr. Zvi Fischel, chairman of the Israel Psychiatric Association, has in recent months sharply and unprecedentedly criticized the basket committee when he argued for the extreme discrimination of psychiatric patients for years and also claimed the ignorance and stigma of some committee members against MENTAL PATIENTS.
Although the committee vehemently rejected, almost waved, Fish's claims, but his courageous criticism obliges her and the Ministry of Health to take a deep mental account of the facts he hurled at the committee and some have not received any appropriate response to date.
The committee owes this to the psychiatric patients and psychiatric doctors, some of whom feel really betrayed by one of the most important committees in the public health system in Israel.