People suffering from severe and drug-resistant depression have been struggling in recent months to get approval for the implantation of an innovative neurotransmitter to treat depression. Although the drug basket committee decided in February this year to hold a pilot during which they could receive the treatment, three months have passed since then - and the experimental program has not yet begun. In the past, our correspondent Ran Reznik revealed the things and accompanied the patients who need a device like the exposure in "Israel Today" about the extraordinary letter sent by two mental patients to the Health Basket Committee.
Moreover, the HMOs refrain from approving the technology for these patients through an exceptions committee, in light of the basket committee's decision that the Ministry of Health will budget the transplant as an experimental program.
But the ministry has not begun the pilot it has committed to, and patients with major depression cannot undergo a pacemaker implant to treat their disease.
In one of the hospitals that implants nerve pacemakers, we noted that this year about five such transplants were performed.
However, these may be transplants for which approvals were given before February.
Organizations that assist patients in the field of mental health have accumulated eight requests from patients for pacemaker implantation, which have not yet been approved, so the organizations contacted Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, warning that more than three months had passed since the budget was approved.
"Not only has the commitment to the public not been fulfilled so far," the associations warn the minister, "but the situation of patients in need of technology has even worsened."
The associations remind Health Minister Horowitz of his statements that mental health is at the top of the national priority scale, and his decision to appoint a psychiatrist to the drug basket committee for the first time.
The approvals have been suspended
Following the announcement of the pilot, they claim, the HMOs' exceptional committees have stopped approving the treatment for difficult patients.
"The demand for pacemaker care is growing, and patients are rejected by the health funds and the exceptions committees, claiming that the pilot will be out soon and that they will wait until it is realized," Mental Health.
They say, "You can wait 'a little longer' but more than three months have passed, the pilot has been approved for 2022 only, and it is still unclear when it will be implemented. These are suffering from severe and chronic depression, who have already tried every treatment.
"This technology is their ultimate hope for improving their quality of life and even saving their lives."
The Ministry of Health said: "The basket committee has decided not to introduce the technology, and at the same time decided on a pilot. In recent months, the ministry has done extensive work on the subject, in consultation with experts in psychiatry and neurosurgery, and is in advanced stages.
"It is clarified to the funds that the delay in the pilot is not a reason for postponement in exceptional committees, and decisions should be made as is customary."
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