If there is a case that represents the incompetence of state authorities in the fight to eradicate violence against medical staff, here it is.
It happened a little over half a year ago, at the entrance to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva.
Dozens of men from two rival families in the Bedouin diaspora quarreled at the entrance to the hospital and even fired into the air.
Fourteen boxers were arrested by police, but a few days later the court released them all.
The reason: the police did not have time to go through the security footage that documented the violence.
Brawl at Soroka Hospital: Two wounded by stab wounds, 14 people arrested // Photo: Amar Assadi
I do not know if the thugs have been arrested again, but the message is clear - there is no law and no justice, and the violence will not be stopped.
Violence against medical staff is not a unique phenomenon, it is one branch in a tangled forest of violence that is spreading in our society alongside domestic violence, violence on the roads, violence in the education system, and more and more.
"Here are strikes", archive, Photo: Gideon Markowitz
Violence has long since become routine, in the sense of a "dog biting a human being," with only extreme and unusual violence attracting public and media attention.
Now is the season of "violence against medical staff," following the doctor's beating in Be'er Ya'akov with a hammer to make schnitzels.
The violent attack was stopped, but the court had already sent him to look - perhaps it was an uncontrollable attack and / or another defect.
We will soon be evacuated to another violence, until the next attack.
It is important to note the data: since the beginning of the year, more than 1,600 acts of violence by patients against doctors, nurses and medical staff have been recorded in hospitals and clinics.
A committee of the Ministry of Health examined and found that only 2% of acts of violence are brought to justice each year.
Out of about 3,000 assaults, less than 10 end court proceedings.
There is no shortage of reasons for the frightening and threatening accumulation of violence against medical staff.
The special circumstances in which patients meet with physicians;
The chronic shortage of medical staff and medical equipment that causes delays in providing medical care, and more.
All of these must be addressed, of course, but at the same time it is impossible and forbidden to hang all violence only on those.
Yes, there is room to add police stations in hospitals, as now proposed, but will they uproot the violence?
48 standards in 28 hospitals?
And what about the clinics that remain exposed, without security and without protection?
And what about the justice system that exhibits such extreme sensitivity towards the perpetrators?
And what about the legislative system that stands in the way?
Violence in medical facilities must be uprooted.
Not while in a hasty allocation of a meager budget and not in worded statements.
Far-reaching, unconventional measures are needed.
Because in our minds it is.
Dr. Kanaani Majd is a doctor who specializes in the teaching of Assuta Ashdod Public Hospital
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