In the years 2018-2021, there were ten thousand cases of violence against medical staff in the government hospitals and the Klalit and Mohehad health funds.
Only 195 of them (1.95%) led to indictments, and the most amazing of all: 30% of the charges were dropped, and only 39 of the convicts were sent to prison or community service.
These shameful data emerge from a report by the Knesset's Research and Information Center, which examined the Ministry of Health's handling of the issue of violence in the health system. These are partial data that do not encompass the entire system.
According to the report, complaints were filed with the police in only 20% of the cases, and in only 4% of them (433) were investigation files opened. As of June 2022, about 30% of the cases were closed, about 30% are awaiting a decision, and in 37% Of the cases (72), verdicts were given that convicted 76 defendants and sentenced 39 of them to prison sentences or community service.
Partial application
The report examined the implementation of the recommendations of the committee to eradicate violence in the health system, which was established following the shocking murder of the late nurse Tova Carrero in January 2017, by a patient at the Holon health insurance branch who poured a flammable substance on her and burned her to death.
The committee, chaired by Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef and with the participation of Nofer Carrero Aslan, daughter of the murdered woman, finished its work already in December 2017 - and submitted 60 recommendations directed mainly to the Ministry of Health but also to the police, the attorney's office, the health funds, medical schools and more.
However, the Knesset inspection revealed that less than half of the recommendations were implemented, and less than a quarter of them were fully implemented, due to a lack of budget.
Thus, for example, no complete data was found on the extent of violence against medical staff despite the recommendations of the committee, and the Ministry of Health claims that "due to a lack of budget, an outdated office reporting system is currently being operated in the government hospitals, but not in the other hospitals or the health funds."
uproot the violence.
MK Tesler,
One of the committee's recommendations was to place police officers in the hospitals, and later, in a government decision, it was determined that police officers would be stationed in 15 hospitals. However, police are currently only stationed in eight hospitals (since the commission's work ended in 2017, only two policemen were added!), and The police response is noted that by the end of March 2023 police officers will be stationed in the hospitals.
Other recommendations that have not been implemented: a campaign against violence, the filing of indictments in a short schedule, and the possibility of filing a complaint by the medical institution or its representative at the place attacked.
The Ministry of Health stated that approximately NIS 200 million will be required to implement a full program to deal with violence.
According to MK Yaakov Tesler, who initiated the report with former MK Yaakov Litzman, "It is unfortunate and disappointing to see that even though the recommendations were submitted five years ago, some of them have not yet been implemented and the number of cases of violence against medical staff has only increased.
Violence is wrong and must be uprooted, and we must act to that end by all means."
In its response to the Knesset, the Ministry of Health stated that a committee chaired by the Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Sefi Mandelovich, has been operating since the beginning of 2022 and aims to implement the recommendations of the Mor-Yosef Committee "in an operative manner, and as much as possible".
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