Let them be healthy:
the winter is here, the rain has not yet arrived, but the winter sickness is at its peak and creates heavy burdens on the health system in general and the hospitals in particular.
Since the beginning of the week, announcements have been made from emergency rooms in hospitals across the country that they are no longer accepting patients due to a lack of beds, patient overload and the inability to provide treatment to those who come through the hospital gates.
Yesterday (Monday) at night, it was the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba that informed the Ministry of Health about large loads in the emergency rooms and internal departments.
In light of this, the ministry approved diverting patients and instructed MDA to evacuate those whose condition is mild to other hospitals in the area, at least until the morning hours, in order to allow the hospital to deal with and provide care to the sick and hospitalized.
The emergency room at the Rambam Hospital has a record occupancy of more than 200% // Photo: Rambam Spokesperson
"Ambulances are requested to be diverted"
The deputy director of Asuta Public Hospital in Ashdod, Dr. Hagit Sarbgil Meman, said in a conversation with "Israel Hayom" that the hospital has reached more than 100% occupancy. .
In terms of population - Ashdod is the sixth largest city in Israel.
"Serving 400,000 people with 300 beds, two internal wards and no geriatric ward - this is not something that can last for a long time. We very quickly reached this situation, excess morbidity in the winter, or corona. We are reaching a situation where we simply cannot accept new patients, Physically, we have no positions.
"We have people who go through an assessment and just stay in the MLR.
They are supposed to go to the hospital.
We don't have patients in the corridor, we also don't have the ability or the infrastructure to put a patient in the corridor and this is inappropriate.
The beds are occupied, the patients are not yet well enough to go home and there is no room for the new patients.
Then we reach a state of blockage.
"We call the Ministry of Health and ask them to divert ambulances to another place, it's absurd. We have planning for a new hospital facility, the government in the previous term approved it, there are plans but we don't have the required subsidy. As soon as we receive a budget we will be able to provide treatment to these people, we are prepared, we know build the team all we need is the money
"In general, in the State of Israel, the expenditure increases the more beds there are - so the interest of the Ministry of Finance is not to increase the number of hospital beds. Even so, we are in a low place in all respects in relation to the OECD, but also in the relation between the periphery and the center, we are in an even greater deficit."
Assuta Hospital in Ashdod, photo: Assuta Ashdod
Ambulances (archive), photo: Eliran Avital
200% occupancy
At the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, it was reported that the occupancy in the emergency rooms had reached 200%. This was after they said on Sunday evening that "due to a large load in the Rambam emergency room (accumulation of patients from the weekend) - particularly long waiting times are expected, and a delay in the transfer process from the emergency room to the wards." Hospitalization".
The director of the department of emergency medicine at Rambam, Dr. Hani Bachus: "This is a normal winter illness, we see these loads every winter. The internal wards are full and the emergency room is accumulating more and more patients."
The burdens in Rambam,
This morning, the Hillel Yaffe Hospital in Hadera also joined in and reported to the Ministry of Health about extreme overloads and about 150% occupancy in the internal wards due to the winter illness.
Most patients come to the emergency room with the flu and various types of other viral diseases.
A similar occupancy was also recorded at the Furia Hospital in Tiberias, according to Dr. Eran Tal Or, Director of the Medical Center, North Medical Center (Foria): "In recent weeks, we have been dealing with a load that is approximately 30% greater compared to last year. We have increased the staff to to deal with the growing load."
The plight in the north of the country has not escaped the Ziv hospital in Safed either, where occupancy is also very high and stands at 150%.
Dr. Ina Rosenfeld, director of the Ziv Medical Center MD, tells about periods when the occupancy is 150% or more.
"The winter sickness has arrived and with it flus, fevers and also the corona which has not yet disappeared. At the same time, the Malrad team is skilled and makes every effort to provide the best medical response and service."
Ziv hospital emergency room in Safed, photo: Eyal Margolin - Gini
The rush and congestion did not escape the country's largest medical center either.
The emergency room of Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital also asked on Sunday to divert non-urgent cases to the other hospitals in Gush Dan.
In Haifa as well, the hospitals were asked to take in patients who are residents of the city only and patients from nearby cities and towns were referred to other hospitals in the north of the country.
Loads are also recorded in the center of the country, although not yet at the level of the hospitals in the north of the country.
At the Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center and the Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, they explain that the loads and demand at the moment are normal for the season and that they cannot yet define this as an unusual load and that these are routine data for the season.
The emergency room in Sheba during the winter rush (archive), photo: Yehoshua Yosef
At the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, they report an occupancy of 150-200 percent in the emergency medicine department and a large load of patients.
Dr. Todd Zlott, director of the emergency medicine department at the Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, said that "in the emergency medicine department at the Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, winter is giving its signs.
Alongside the ongoing activity at the Medical Center, the department's staff are dealing with a significant increase in the number of patients arriving at Shaare Tzedek.
In the first five days of 2023 we experienced a 17% increase.
The load on the teams is great.
The emergency room teams are on constant alert and work around the clock for the patients. We will soon open the new ambulatory emergency room, I hope that it will help ease the tremendous burden."
Participated in the preparation of the news: Mittal Yasoor, Yaron Doron, Idan Avni, Michel Machol, Assaf Golan, Ilya Yegorov and Yuri Yalon
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