Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu canceled a trip abroad
that was supposed to start Wednesday and continue until early
next week in order to deal with growing domestic troubles as
government hospitals cut services and protesters hurt by the
cutbacks converged on Jerusalem.
The Health Ministry on Monday announced a new round of
canceled services in government hospitals. Rebecca Sieff
Hospital in Tsefat is canceling its resuscitation services
due to a lack of adrenalin. The hospital only has a two-week
supply of dialysis equipment for kidney failure patients.
Bnai Zion Hospital in Haifa will have to transfer dialysis
patients to other hospitals, postpone expensive elective
surgery, and stop ambulatory cardiac catheterizations.
Abarbanel Psychiatric Hospital in Bat Yam will not be able to
give patients expensive medications for internal medicine
disorders. The number of guards has been reduced at another
psychiatric hospital.
At Rambam Hospital in Haifa the supply of cancer drugs is
running out and hernia operations have been halted. Back
operations at Nahariya Government Hospital are being canceled
as of Tuesday due to lack of equipment.
Nearly a dozen hospitals have cut key services since the
beginning of the week.
Government-operated hospital deficits are estimated at NIS
400 million, and the deficits of the Clalit health
maintenance organization are estimated to be NIS 340 million.
The deficits of the entire health system including the four
HMOs are estimated at NIS 2 billion.
The Health Ministry has demanded that the Treasury cover the
hospitals' deficits. The Treasury has responded by arguing
that the deficits are due to mismanagement and has demanded a
series of measures to increase efficiency and structural
changes, including reducing the doctors' wages in research
foundations, and closing redundant medical departments.
Health Ministry Director-General Boaz Lev said not a single
public hospital in Israel has a balanced budget.
Treasury Budget Director Ori Yogev accused the hospital
directors of "cynical use of human lives to demand additional
funds from the Treasury." His charge that the hospitals have
been inefficiently run was denied by the Health Ministry.
Last week single mother Vikki Knafo marched 200 kilometers
from Mitzpe Ramon to Jerusalem to draw attention to her
plight. She camped out opposite the Knesset and has since
been joined by some 50 other women. Press reports said that
others are on the way, including some men heading single
parent families, from all over Israel.
A 10-point program for single parents was announced Monday by
a joint ministerial working group. In announcing the plan,
Netanyahu said that the working group began work on the plan
before Knafo's 200-km. march from Mitzpe Ramon to Jerusalem.
But he admitted that the demonstrations and extensive media
coverage, which whipped life into opposition to the austerity
plan, sharpened the focus on the issues.
The program begins in August and will last one year. It is
designed to encourage single-parent family heads, both men
and women, to work at least 12 hours a week. In exchange,
they will be eligible for a long list of benefits. This would
halt the gradual rise in single-parent insured income
recipients, which has grown from slightly under 10,000 in
1990 to almost 54,000 last year.
Points of the plan include: Subsidized day care so single
parents can work longer hours; Subsidized transportation from
remote areas (farther than 30 km.) to city centers, where
jobs are easier to find; Grants of up to NIS 9,000 for those
who manage to stay employed for a year; Various programs to
provide employment for those with limited skills such as
assistants in special education; A NIS 1,000 monthly grant to
employers for each new single parent receiving insured
income; Aid in establishing small businesses, such as at-home
child care.
Netanyahu stressed that the government is taking a new
approach that encourages work and self help. He said that
returning to the previous system is out of the question. "The
previous situation caused terrible distortions, created
dependency on the state, and perpetuated a welfare culture
for coming generations," he said.
