The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

At the box office concerned: The budget for mental health care has been discontinued Israel today

2021-11-29T21:41:59.232Z


With the outbreak of the corona, the Ministry of Health initiated a free service that includes conversations with a therapist without a referral • Now, his future is full of fog • "The virus is still here, the mental aspect is essential"


The budget for the HMOs' telephone emotional support program will be cut in a month.

His future is unknown, and the HMOs are worried.

After the first wave of the corona, the mental health department of the Ministry of Health initiated a free service, which includes three telephone consultation calls with a caregiver without the need for a referral or diagnosis.

While mental health care in the HMOs is characterized by long waiting times, telephone service was characterized by flexibility and short waiting times.

As of July 2020, more than 15,000 people have been assisted by the service.

But as mentioned, right now, when the scope of the "mental corona" becomes clear, the Ministry of Health does not have a budget for operating the important service.

Dr. Arad Kodesh, Photo: Courtesy United

"This is a short, focused treatment that provides a suitable solution for people with anxiety," explains Dr. Gilad Bodenheimer, head of mental health at Maccabi.

"The closures have created emotional phenomena that did not exist before," says Dr. Arad Kodesh, director of the mental health system at Meuhedet.

The assumption is that once we allow people targeted intervention, morbidity is avoided down the road.

It has become a valve to a system that is flooding. "

Sigal Sidlik Alon,

Finally, Kodesh calls on the Ministry of Health to continue budgeting for the service: "The corona has not ended. It is impossible to talk about preparing for the next waves, and to say that the mental aspect is over and there is no budget. The mental aspect is essential."

Sigal Sidlik Alon, Clalit's Chief National Psychologist, adds: "By the end of October, the service was provided to 3,300 policyholders in a variety of languages. This response is especially important for people aged 70 and over. Almost a quarter of the calls were to people aged 70 and over.

This is an important and significant service.

Uncertainty is still before us.

Just today we received an inquiry about a girl who was found to be corona blue and is in mental difficulty.

Within an hour, a therapist spoke to her. "

The Ministry of Health said: "The reports received by the ministry indicate high satisfaction with the service. There are no data at this stage regarding the cost of the program, as they are passed to us from the funds. The ministry is examining the possibility, subject to state budget approval, to continue the program."

Meanwhile, on December 7, at 9:00 AM, "Israel Hayom" will hold a conference on mental resilience at the Zappa Club in Tel Aviv. At the same time, the conference will be broadcast live on the website and in the "Israel Hayom" widget.

Were we wrong?

Fixed!

If you found an error in the article, we'll be happy for you to share it with us

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-11-29

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-13T17:22:00.073Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.