Another disclosure by "Israel Hayom" about the serious situation in the hospital:
in the department of pediatric surgery in "Haemek" in Afula, more than 600 surgeries are performed a year.
This is the central department, which provides services to hundreds of thousands of children in the valleys and the Galilee.
More articles on the subject
The Emek Hospital presents: a ward without doctors, nurses and beds | Israel Hayom investigation
"Patients who are breathing fell off the beds": the shocking testimonies of the doctors from the "Haemek" hospital
Senior officials of the Emek Hospital: "terrible discrimination and neglect of the hospital"
But in an unprecedented manner, doctors and senior managers at the hospital are warning that since the beginning of the month there is a real danger for children who need urgent, essential and life-saving surgeries - since there are not enough skilled and available senior doctors to serve as on-calls in the department and provide a response to the care of children during the evening and night hours.
the ward.
"The children's health may be harmed", photo: Michel Machol
The reason: the esteemed director of the department, Dr. Asher Pressman, has retired - and the hospital's management is unable to find a senior pediatric surgeon to serve under him. Besides him, two specialist doctors work in the department, one of whom is not on call, and three other interns.
"I'm worried about the situation"
Already at the end of October, the director of the children's emergency department in the valley, Dr. Gilad Chen, alerted the new hospital director who took office in July, Dr. Maor Maman, that he was surprised to hear that from the beginning of November there will be one pediatric unit in pediatric surgery, named Dr. Elias Marwan. Will the children's system also remain in this area without a satisfactory answer?", he wondered in an email he wrote to the director of the hospital. "Why don't the directors of the children's system know about this?
I heard about it by chance.
Is it really expected of one doctor to make 30 appointments a month?
An external operator (who is not a permanent employee at the hospital; RR) is not a proper or logical solution for active on-calls. After all, in the field of pediatric surgery, it is not just about providing telephone answers.
"There is also a problematic situation in the field of cardiology: the only cardiologist the children's system has is going on vacation for two weeks, and the coverage we will receive starting next week in both the field of cardiology and the field of pediatric surgery is problematic to say the least - and may endanger the children who need these services. I imagine my phone call to a hospital Another, to transfer to him a baby with intestinal obstruction because we do not have the capacity to treat him at our place. I am sure that like me, the directors of the children's department will also be happy to know what the solution is to the distress that is going to be in the children's surgery from next week."
Default haunts default.
Hamek Hospital,
However, it was not only Dr. Chen who alerted the director of the hospital about this. On the same day, Dr. Clary Pelser-Fish, director of the Premature and Infant Department at Emek, also wrote to him: "In terms of premature babies and newborns, the surgical cases are often urgent and very complex, and in my opinion - no to the decisions of one doctor or to the surgery of a single specialist. I am concerned about the situation. The pediatric surgery department must remain as strong as it has always been in the valley. In cardiology, the doctor has the right to take time off. Just in the last week or two there have been very difficult cardiology cases in the preterm, including a case of a baby who was attached Lakmo. I don't see how we will manage (cardiology diagnoses in newborns must not be missed when there are more than 5,000 births a year) without a regular arrangement, only with a drive, without coverage during the day in the routine work. And the saddest thing - this is not new. The directors of the children's system have been warning for years - yes , years - on the status of several vital areas with a single specialist doctor".
The temporary solution
The severity of the situation for the pediatricians in the valley is only getting worse, in light of the harsh claims made since the beginning of the year by the department managers at the hospital about continuous deprivation, discrimination and neglect, both on the part of the hospital's management, both on the part of the General Health Insurance Fund - the owner and in charge of the hospital - and on the part of the Ministry of Health. The claims and complaints were revealed in a series of articles in "Israel Hayom". Among other things, complaints were revealed about a life-threatening load at the hospital, about corona patients who died in the absence of treatment, about the neglect of general intensive care, and more.
Demonstration against the Emek Hospital, photo: Gil Eliyahu
Before Dr. Persman's expected retirement, the fund established a search committee to select a new manager for the department. The process ended without results. The doctors' committee wrote to the hospital manager: "None of the candidates is suitable or mature to manage the department and move forward," and recommended that the tender be postponed at least a year.
Despite this, Klalit refused the hospital manager's request to allow Dr. Pressman to continue working for a few more months. Senior managers claim this because he stood out in the public and media protest against the ongoing deprivation at the hospital.
In the meantime, the hospital director's solution is to alternately appoint, for two months, two doctors as acting directors - Dr. Elias Marwan, who ran for the management of the department without success, and Dr. Bassem Kawar, the deputy director of the department in recent years. It should be noted that Dr. "R. Kewar has not been on call at all in the ward for seven years, due to his medical condition.
He told "Israel Today" that he would not be able to perform any standby duties even when he was appointed acting director of the department.
Criticism against Dr. Kawar
Senior doctors at the hospital claim that a disciplinary investigation was carried out for Dr. Kawar in January 2018 - following which the hospital management itself issued harsh statements against him.
The investigation report is signed by the deputy director of the hospital, Dr. David Almog, and the chairman of the board of doctors in the valley, Dr. Boaz Bloch.
The report was written after Dr. Kawar gave his comments and claims about the case.
According to the hearing report, in August 2017, Dr. Pressman coordinated with Dr. Kawar that the latter would participate in a vital operation of a girl's stomach. The operation was designed to prevent a dangerous return of the stomach contents to the lungs. The girl was anesthetized, and as planned, she was first operated on by a nose doctor Otorhinolaryngology to make the connection to the ventilator. Around 15:15, Dr. Kawar was called by the anesthesiologist to come to the operating room, when the girl was anesthetized on the operating table.
But according to the hearing report, Dr. Kawar informed the director of the department of his "refusal to perform the surgery, since the surgery will continue until after 4:00 p.m."
It is also written that in view of the department director's announcement that without Dr. Kawar's participation he would be forced to cancel the operation - he did announce that it should be canceled.
"Considering this, the deputy director of the hospital, Dr. Gil Hirschhorn, also contacted you and asked you to come down to the operating room," the report states.
"You firmly stood by your refusal, and announced that you are supposed to work until 4:00 p.m., and that therefore you refuse to undergo surgery that will last beyond that hour."
In the report it is stated that under him the director of the department and the director of the vascular surgery unit entered the surgery, although the latter does not have expertise in performing this type of surgery. It is also stated that at 3:45 PM Dr. Kawar suddenly appeared in the operating room, participated in the performance of the complex part of it - and left Before the surgery was over.
The report harshly criticizes the senior doctor. It states that his behavior is not consistent with what is expected of a doctor in his position, and it is criticized for not expressing remorse. and in the role", it was concluded.
"The leading team is excellent"
At the hearing, Dr. Kawar submitted his written response to the complaints against him, in which he wrote, among other things: "Everything that was written is a deliberate exaggeration of the events, and some of the things were also taken out of context.
I did not leave the operating room on my own accord - I asked Dr. Pressman for permission to leave, and he also knew in advance that on that day I was supposed to leave the hospital no later than 4:00 p.m. On that day there were two other doctors who could help with the surgery. The status of Lt. I got the department manager based on hard work in the department at the expense of my family and my health, and it is clear to me that since I stopped doing standbys the anger towards me grew, and was expressed in a rigid attitude and insulting instructions."
Dr. Pressman, who ran the department, said of the intention to appoint Kewar, his former deputy, as acting director of the department: "This is the worst possible decision, which clearly could harm the children's health and put them in danger.
This conduct is a continuation of general management, which does not count the Valley Hospital and its patients, as they claimed throughout the struggle."
The response of the Klalit and Emek managements: "Dr. Bassem Kawar is one of the most senior surgeons in Israel in pediatric surgery, and he is one of the few in Israel skilled in performing complex surgeries on children with birth defects.
The department relied on him a lot in the complex surgeries.
The allegations against him are ugly defamations, all aimed at damaging his good name.
We completely reject these claims.
"Despite what is claimed, Dr. Kewar participated in the girl's surgery, and was actually the main surgeon in this surgery.
The decision not to extend Dr. Pressman's tenure beyond retirement age was made after a careful examination of the leading staff of the department, the excellent capabilities of the surgeons and their performance."
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