Despite the promises of new staff for hospitals facing a heavy workload of patients and a manpower shortage in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the vast majority of the new workforce have not been approved by the Finance Ministry, Kan Bet reported.
According to the report, hospital administrators claim that the approval of the additional staff was conditioned on unrealistically high morbidity levels, with the intention of not fulfilling the promises to hospitals.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett promised a month and a half ago to approve a budget of about two and a half billion shekels for the health system, which was intended for the addition of new beds and staff in overwhelmed hospitals.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz specified that the move meant that 2,000 additional staff will be added immediately to the health system as full-time employees and not as temporary employees.
But the move was planned to be carried out in two stages according to the number of patients in hospitals. Step One - When hospitals reach 1,200 inpatients and 600 critically ill patients the hospitals are entitled to an additional 100 doctors and 500 nurses. This level was reached and the staff additions were approved. The second phase would be implemented only if there were 2,400 patients hospitalized and 1,200 patients in serious condition - figures that hospitals are extremely unlikely to reach.
The Finance Ministry stated in response that contrary to the claim, there is no condition for increasing the budgets for additional staff for hospitals and that as the burden on hospitals increases, more manpower is needed to cope with the burden. "This workforce does not produce instant doctors, but diverts medical staff from the community to the hospital."
The hospitals rejected the ministry's claims and the budget was clearly conditioned on the number of patients.