In a one-on-one interview with Maariv health correspondent Eliav Batito at the Maariv Annual Business Summit, Sigal Regev Rosenberg, CEO of Meuhedet Health Services, said that while the past two years have been challenging for the Israeli health system, the corona pandemic has led to increased allocation of resources for the health sector and a higher priority given to health in Israeli society.
Rosenberg stated that the Israeli health system was largely unprepared at the outset of the crisis, and the Kupot Holim and the Health Ministry were not synchronized in their communication. The crisis, she stated, improved coordination and communication between the country’s health systems.
While the digital transformation of the Israeli health system began ten years ago, said Rosenberg, it rapidly gained momentum and became widely accepted with the arrival of the pandemic.
Rosenberg noted that Israel needs to be prepared for future epidemics, as they will become more common in years to come. She stated that the current health care model of treatment, with doctors treating patients who come to the clinic, is outmoded and inefficient and needs to be updated for the 21st century. Rosenberg also noted that there is a gap between the level of health care that members of higher socio-economic groups obtain and that of lower socio-economic groups, and that gap needs to be narrowed.
Rosenberg said that there is a possibility of a need for a fourth vaccination at some point in the future, given the fact that antibodies naturally decrease over time.
Written in cooperation with Meuhedet Health Services.