This morning (Wednesday), at a session of the Knesset's Health Committee, committee chairman, Knesset member Uriel Busso (Shas), presented a plan to eradicate the phenomenon of violence against medical staff in Israel.
Busso noted: "We will come out of this discussion with clear decisions to ensure a comprehensive solution to the extreme situation we are now facing. We will protect those teams who do holy work."
He also said: "This discussion is also the place to thank all the medical teams for their holy work. Let's not forget that they are the ones standing at the front during the most difficult times that the State of Israel has faced and continues to face. Losing one's temper and using physical or verbal violence must not occur at all, certainly not on our watch."
The outline includes advancing a bill to increase punishment for assaulting doctors and imposing fines in cases of violence and disorder in medical institutions.
An additional change will be to define working as guards in medical institutions as a vital (preferred) job for discharged soldiers, something that gives them a grant upon release from the army. There is significant difficulty in recruiting personnel for these positions and this change should alleviate that problem.
Busso also announced the establishment of a joint forum of the committee together with the health insurance funds and the Ministries of Health, National Security, Labor, Justice, and Finance to examine and promote additional tools and measures to prevent violence against medical staff.
At the end of the discussion, MK Busso thanked the Director General of the Health Ministry, Moshe Bar Siman Tov, for his professionalism and dedicated care while presenting practical solutions to the plight of the medical teams. “I am confident that the experience he brings will bring a solution to the safety needs of the teams who do their work with dedication,” he said.