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Fourth committee in two weeks: The Health Ministry's new "method" endangers us all - voila! news

2023-06-01T17:21:38.788Z

Highlights: OECD report warns of a health crisis and criticizes multiplicity of committees. Ministry of Health established ten committees on the issue without long-term planning. Israel Medical Association warns against politicians' intervention. "Emergency measures are needed to extinguish the huge fire", says head of group. "We fear that this committee will become politicized and controlled by politicians," he adds. "Without creating balances for deficiencies, stable reform will collapse very quickly," he says. "It is a well-known practice of government ministries in Israel for burying burning issues," says Dr. Zvee Feldman.


Instead of really addressing the OECD report that warns of a health crisis and criticizes the multiplicity of committees, the ministry decided to establish another committee, which itself was divided into 3 subcommittees, and turned the obnoxious practice into a disturbing method. The Israel Medical Association warns against politicians' intervention: "Emergency measures are needed to extinguish the huge fire"


Video: Rambam intern doctors demonstrate (Photo: Yoav Etiel)

The severe report published Thursday morning by the OECD on the severe shortage of medical manpower in Israel criticized the Ministry of Health, which established ten committees on the issue without long-term planning. This, in a period of twenty years. In response to the publication of the report, the Ministry of Health decided to establish another committee, which will be headed by Moshe Bar Siman Tov, Director General of the Ministry of Health. The committee is required to submit its conclusions by November of this year.

Meanwhile, the committee was divided into three subcommittees, one of which is a subcommittee on defining the work mechanisms of the medical personnel planning body in Israel, headed by Dr. Sefi Mendelovitch, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health. That is, a subcommittee that will actually define the work of the main committee - a committee on a committee.

The establishment of committees is a well-known practice of government ministries in Israel for burying burning issues, but in the Ministry of Health this has already become a method. In the past two weeks, no less than four different committees have been established: a committee on Assuta's failures, a committee on the involvement of medical officials in the Yemenite children's affair, a committee on mental health and, as noted, committees dealing with the manpower shortage. They are joined by the committees of the failures that took place at Schneider Hospital, which were established after the death of the boy Meidan Keller and the collapse of the catheterization device at Beilinson Hospital. Although these are transparent committees run by Clalit Health Fund, since these are hospitals that it owns, the Ministry of Health, as a regulator, must supervise that their conclusions are reported and implemented.

The establishment of committees has become a method for burying burning issues in the Ministry of Health. Moshe Bar Siman Tov (Photo: Flash 90, Flash 90)

The ongoing failure of the shortage of doctors has been known for more than two decades. Ministry Director General Moshe Bar Siman Tov decided during his previous term on the stable reform, which regulates medical studies abroad, with the main conditions being studies in one of the OECD countries or in medical schools affiliated with hospitals that have passed a prestigious standard.

The reform is expected to go into effect in 2025, with half of the doctors in Israel currently being trained at universities that in two years will not be recognized by the Health Ministry. The stable reform in question is important in order to promote health in Israel and there is no doubt about its necessity, but without creating balances for the shortages, it will collapse very quickly.

The Ministry of Health has begun to find solutions to the additional shortage that will be felt when the reform comes into effect, so that, among other things, the number of students per academic cycle has been increased by about 200, the Ministry of Health has prohibited the study abroad of students who are not expected to stay and work in Israel, and is trying to regulate interns so that in professions where there is a shortage, the supply of the number of interns will be increased.

More in Walla!

Most doctors in Israel received degrees abroad – and the Ministry of Health will not recognize most of them

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Without creating balances for deficiencies, stable reform will collapse very quickly (Photo: ShutterStock)

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The biggest opponents of bringing forward the committee are the Israel Medical Association, where they claim that the Ministry of Health made mistakes in the first steps of establishing the committee by not including them as a decisive factor in the committees. On the other hand, in the Ministry of Health there are those who see the Medical Association as a factor that may interfere, as happened in the committee examining the interns' outline.

In response to this decision by the Ministry of Health, Secretary General of the Israel Medical Association Leah Wepner said: "The decision to give the state the choice of which intern will go to which specialization can be dangerous. I fear that this committee will become politicized and controlled by politicians."

Dr. Zeev Feldman, chairman of the State Physicians Association, added that urgent steps are needed on the issue. "We need a national emergency team here that brings together the doctors, the professional associations and the scientific council, with immediate timetables, and taking emergency measures to extinguish the huge fire before it consumes the public health system for the citizens of Israel."

  • news
  • News in Israel
  • health

Tags

  • Ministry of Health
  • physician
  • Doctors
  • medicine
  • oecd

Source: walla

All news articles on 2023-06-01

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