Israel's Mental Health Crisis: Urgent Call for National Emergency Declaration

2023-12-29 22:03:40

The October 7 attack led to 300,000 Israelis needing psychological treatment (AFP)

The day after the Israeli Ministry of Health announced its decision to add beds to public hospital departments, and others to mental health hospitals, ten of the latter’s directors sent an urgent letter to the State Comptroller, Netanyahu Engelman, asking him to declare a “state of emergency” to confront the dangerous situation the health system is witnessing. Mental. The letter came in the wake of years of mistakes and neglect, and in light of the shortage of funding and manpower in the relevant centers, a situation exacerbated by the war that has been raging in the Gaza Strip for about three months. According to what was reported by the Ynet website, the letter also came after the directors had considered submitting their resignation earlier, before reversing the decision. They, including the director of Merhavim Hospital, Professor Hilik Lepkovich, the director of Lev Hasharon Hospital, Professor Shmuel Hirschman, and the director of Avbanel Hospital, Yuval Melmed, wrote to the State Comptroller: “We address you with our desperate cry due to the difficult situation that the system is suffering from.” Mental Health in Israel,” considering that “the health system is on the verge of collapse.” According to the Ynet website, since May 2020, the State Comptroller issued a “dangerous” report in which he addressed the situation of this system in the previous five years, that is, since the implementation of the decisions began. Related to mental health, within the framework of which the bulk of the treatment of psychiatric patients was transferred to the Kupat Holim (Health Fund) clinics. The observer had previously warned of the gradual decline in the areas of mental health in the last decade, especially after data began to show a decline in all of these areas, including the time required to obtain an appointment to receive treatment (which sometimes takes a year or more), and the decrease in the number of health doctors. The psychological situation is acute, in parallel with the great neglect that the public sector is exposed to in favor of the private sector, in addition to the serious shortage of recovery staff, the decline in standards in existing hospitals, and the shortage in the workforce, which is one of the central reasons for the current situation. It is worth mentioning here that the Ministry of Health acknowledges that there is not a sufficient number of workers to care for all those seeking psychological treatment.
Returning to the directors’ message, they pointed out that in addition to the sharp increase in needs since the “Corona” crisis, the October 7 attack led to an additional 300,000 Israelis needing psychological treatment funded (from the state). The above, according to the letter, “is a number that does not include fighters who need psychological treatment as a result of the traumas they have been exposed to, or will suffer from, as a result of the war.” They said: “We notice an increase of tens of percentages in requests for mental health services. The results are harsh and disturbing, as there is a rise in rates of mental illness, suicide cases, and injured people receiving emergency treatment in inhumane conditions.” However, the Israeli Ministry of Health insists that “there has been no increase in suicide rates.” On the other hand, the directors said: “We are facing a reality of complete helplessness, unable to provide an appropriate response to urgent needs. We feel sad in the face of the human suffering that we witness every day. Please, use your power and authority as a state observer in order to save the mental health of the citizens of Israel. “It is time to declare a national emergency and urgently allocate resources appropriate to the facts.” In response to the Ministry of Health’s claims that suicide rates have not increased, and its decision to increase 1,700 beds for public hospitals, including 245 beds for mental health hospitals, the Ynet website quoted one of the hospital directors as saying: “Once again, the Ministry of Health is spreading lies and illusions that are divorced from reality.”