Following the exposure in "Israel Today":
The Israeli Lung Cancer Association warned the director general of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Nachman Ash, that the unprecedented approval given to Clalit Health Fund to reduce doses of drugs for lung cancer and skin cancer could lead to doctors being charged with a criminal offense And will also be sued in civil lawsuits.
This is a criminal offense of administering a drug in violation of the dosage in which it is legally registered as well as medical malpractice lawsuits that may be filed against them and against the HMOs.
The extraordinary warning was passed on to a special discussion held last Tuesday in the Knesset Health Committee on Prof. Ash's unprecedented approval of the Clalit Health Insurance Fund to give oncologists a total reduction of expensive doses of expensive drugs in the medicine basket. Contrary to the recommendations of a professional committee set up by the Ministry of Health itself, contrary to the legal registration of the drug in the Ministry of Health and the dosage listed in the drug basket, and also despite sharp criticism from some senior oncologists in the country.
In a reasoned legal opinion, Advocate Dr. Matan Gutman on behalf of the association warned that the approval given by Prof. Ash is "illegal and unconstitutional and is an unprecedented position and blatant and prohibited intervention at the discretion of the attending physician, unlawfully permitting the HMO to deviate from the registration principle. Provided for in the Pharmacists Ordinance. "
Adv. Guttman also wrote that this is "creating discrimination between patients from different funds, ignoring the position of the professionals and granting permission for a combination of economic considerations in providing health services that have already been included in the health basket, and have an approved budget source."
Adv. Gutman, an expert in administrative law, human rights law and good administration law at the Reichman University in Herzliya, demanded that the Ministry of Health shelve the guidelines, and announced that if this was not done, the association would petition the court. "There is a difference between life and death for some patients with lung cancer, and giving a low dose by weight, while all studies show that the fixed dose is the most effective, violates patients' constitutional right to health and this harm is unconstitutional, disproportionate and unreasonable."
The Ministry of Health stated in response that a draft circular of the director general of the ministry was formulated by the professionals in the Ministry of Health and after receiving an opinion from a professional committee appointed for this matter. The attached opinion will be examined and considered together with the other comments on the draft circular. "
Clalit stated in response that "an independent committee that included senior oncologists in Israel and the heads of the Ministry of Health determined at the end of strenuous and thorough staff work that both methods should be allowed according to weight and a fixed dose."
It was further reported that "all the studies on the drug before registration were done on the basis of dosage by weight. A subcommittee of the Ministry of Health determined that the drug manufacturer was in fact forced to use double doses, of 100 mg, when it took out 50 mg ampoules. "He published a draft circular in favor of the general position and states that the HMO's right and even obligation to establish a medical treatment policy is binding on the medical staff, including its right to establish drug treatment and dosage regimes, while establishing an informed medical policy based on solid professional standards."
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