The Health Committee asked the Ministry of Health and the National Insurance Institute to submit recommendations within 60 days to increase the hospitalization grant for parents of premature babies whose place of residence is remote, in Eilat or the Golan Heights. Committee Chairman MK Uriel Bosso requested the establishment of an indemnification and funding mechanism for parents to support living close to the hospital during the hospitalization period and to fund medical follow-ups.
This morning we published the report of the Knesset Research and Information Center, which indicates that at Yoseftal in Eilat, about 5 small premature babies (under 1,750 kg) are born, who require transfer to the center of the country for hospitalization and treatment. However, the position of the Ministry of Health and Clalit is that there is no reason and no professional ability to establish a NICU in the hospital.
MK Uriel Bosso, Chairman of the Health Committee: "The committee is not letting up and we will follow up. We are working with the Ministry of Finance and Health together. We ask the Director General of the Ministry of Health to establish a new examination team to examine the feasibility of establishing a NICU and ask Clalit to submit a mapping document of all the needs for the development of the hospital in Eilat and the addition of missing medical services."
MK Uriel Bosso, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Odya Gross, a resident of Eilat and mother of a premature baby, spoke about the difficulties: "Four years ago, when we were new to Eilat, I arrived at the hospital at 4 weeks and was transferred with contractions to Soroka. We had to wait 24 hours for an ambulance to arrive from Beersheba. It was a day of flooding and it wasn't clear how the roads were doing. At Soroka, I was hospitalized for another week. I gave birth at 3 weeks to a baby weighing 25 grams. I am a mother of 700 other children besides the premature baby. Children who were 4 to 8 years old. And they had to be left at home, with my husband taking care of them with devotion. The baby was hospitalized for 186 days in the NICU. I had to live in Beersheba. If good people hadn't given us an apartment there close to the hospital, I don't know what I would have done.
"Beyond housing, there is a matter of food and taking care of the children at home. My parents are not from the Beersheba area and came to be with me. 4 years later we are still dealing with the consequences of prematurity. Elroy is in a rehabilitation kindergarten and suffers from cerebral palsy."
The smallest hospital in Israel. Yoseftal in Eilat, photo: Yehuda Ben Yattach
Romi Schori, CEO of the Lehav Association (for premature babies in Israel), said that the association helped finance a hotel at a cost of NIS 6,000 for a mother from Eilat who was transferred to Ichilov for the purpose of giving birth to a premature baby at the beginning of the coronavirus period. "Not all premature babies come out of this unscathed. Many premature babies grow up to be children on the autistic spectrum or with developmental problems of one kind or another. We don't have a follow-up that says whether premature babies from Eilat have more long-term consequences.
"Eilat and the Arava are developing areas and it is important to talk about the long term. I would like to see one day a quality NICU in Eilat and many neonatologists. That's no reason why there won't be an appropriate response today. We need the professionals to sit down with us, the parents, to formulate the responses."
Eilat resident who spoke at the hearing: There were many documents and promises, but they have to be implemented. Eilat is a 'deserted island' in the field of health. Don't just set up a NICU. A premature baby who is born needs continued treatment and follow-up in the community even after six months in the NICU. In order not to sit in 2030 and say what the needs are, we need to set up an executive team and report. Otherwise we won't move forward, we all know what's missing.
The discussion raised the great shortage of pediatricians with expertise in neonatal medicine. Prof. Arie Riskin of Bnei Zion, Chairman of the Association of Neonatal Physicians: "There are only 110 neonatologists in the entire State of Israel. We're not succeeding in recruiting doctors to the field." He also suggested strengthening the transfer capacity from Yoseftal Hospital, strengthening the hospital's ability to treat relatively large premature babies (born at 34-37 weeks), and increasing grants to parents.
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