Following the exposure of Israel Hayom, Health Minister MK Moshe Arbel on Wednesday instructed his ministry's director-general, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, to act as soon as possible to significantly reduce patient bonding in all psychiatric hospitals, and praised hospitals with very few connections.
A senior source in the Health Minister's Office told Israel Hayom: "Minister Arbel is determined to reduce the phenomenon of bondage in psychiatric hospitals and sees great importance in preserving patients' rights. The Minister believes that it is the duty of medical teams to ensure that they provide service out of respect for people, sensitivity and humane treatment. The minister will insist that the matter be dealt with as soon as possible."
Minister Arbel. "Human treatment of the patient", photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Minister Arbel wrote his demand following yesterday's exposure in Israel Hayom, according to which over the past two years, psychiatric hospitals in Israel have resumed re-tying mental patients in increasing numbers, and in some cases in contravention of the directives of the Ministry of Health, the law and medical ethics.
All this is in stark contrast to the welcome trend that has begun in hospitals since 2017, when there was a sharp decline of 70% in patient binding after an extraordinary media and public battle over the practice of tying patients.
"Significant increase"
The disclosure was based on internal MoH data for 2022-2015, according to which a slow, but ongoing and worrying trend of hundreds of reconnections of patients in most psychiatric hospitals began in 2020.
According to these figures, since 2020 there has been an increase of 40%-30% in the number of associated patients in most psychiatric hospitals.
Senior officials at these hospitals told Israel Hayom that they are very concerned that this trend will only intensify if the Health Ministry's failed and very partial supervision in this area and the weakening of attention to the issue in hospital managements continue.
Minister Arbel wrote to Bar Siman Tov that "it has been brought before me that there has been a significant increase in the past three years in the number of cases of tying patients in psychiatric hospitals, especially in Shaar Menashe, Ma'ale HaCarmel, Shalvata, Lev Hasharon and Herzog hospitals, while other hospitals have managed to leave the number of cases of tying up few and rare."
For example, the Mazor Psychiatric Hospital in Acre, the Government Psychiatric Hospital in Beer Sheva and the psychiatric wards at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer.
Good sign bar,
The Health Minister also wrote: "During the period of security tension during Operation Guardian of the Walls, the entire mental health system learned that this practice can be significantly reduced without harming patients and caregivers, and my instruction is that we will learn the lessons from this period in the best possible way, in order to assimilate the aspiration to reduce the phenomenon that looks to the future.
The Health Minister added: "After reading all the latest data on the subject, I would like to prioritize treatment that touches on the most basic core of service delivery and the right to human dignity of all patients."
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