IMA: Allocate more money for hospital fortification

In letter to Netanyahu, Eidelman says significant investment in hospital infrastructure is urgently needed.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Leonid Eidelman 311 (photo credit: JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH)
Leonid Eidelman 311
(photo credit: JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH)
Israel Medical Association chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is also the health minister, to allocate more funds for fortifying Israeli hospitals at risk from enemy missiles and rockets.
In a letter he sent on Thursday, Eidelman stated that in light of the possible threats to Israel, an expansion of budgets as well as significant investment in the bolstering of hospital infrastructure are urgently needed.
“For a long time, the health system has been under-budgeted. It cries out for investment that you have so far avoided making. The continued shortage in resources,” wrote Eidelman, “including hospital beds, medical manpower and physical infrastructure brings us closer to harming patients.”
Eidelman noted that public expenditure for healthcare as a percentage of the gross domestic product is among the lowest in the OECD countries, and it has not changed in more than a decade.
“Huge advances in science and technology demand more resources and have completely changed the way patients are treated today,” he wrote.
Hospitals must be fortified against attacks, concluded Eidelman, a senior anesthesiologist.
“I again call on you to allocate necessary funds for health to prevent the next catastrophe,” he wrote.