Health Ministry Chief Israel rails at ‘atmosphere that permits blood-shed of healthcare providers’

Nachman Ash rails at ‘atmosphere that permits blood[shed] of healthcare providers’; nurses’ union announces it will join work slowdown

   Violence against doctors has become a serious issue across the globe. The underlying basic  reason for the omnipresent malaise is the altered doctor-patient equation globally and growing mistrust in the saviours. The mistrust is propagated by opportunist medical industry, media and law industry for their selfish motives as doctors are shown as front men for the failures.  Poor outcomes are projected because of medical errors and mistakes. Every death is thought to be because of negligence rather than a natural complication of the disease.  Because of the instigation and poor law enforcement in favour of doctors, the response of  lay public to these unfortunate incidents has become extremely erratic and out of proportion. As Governments remain more or less indifferent, and doctors have become punching bags for inept health systems.  Law industry has been enormously benefitted financially due to medico-legal cases against doctors. Media has sold their news items not by good ground work, but by sensationalizing and mischaracterizing the real basic issues, airing one single incident as generalizations.  An atmosphere of mistrust has been generated against medical profession. Administrators and Industry have put themselves on higher pedestrian by selectively projecting the genuine failures and mistakes of doctors.   There is a little token action by police after routine incident of violence against doctors.

    Consequently violence (legal, verbal or physical) against doctor has acquired an epidemic proportion, omnipresent world-wide. As a result, medical business has thrived whereas medical profession is suffocated and art of medicine has been dying a slow gradual death.

   But in Israel, doctors, nurses and health care workers seem to be united against this menace and their associations are actively pursuing the issue. More-over the Government also seem to be sensitive to the issue in Israel.

Nachman Ash rails at ‘atmosphere that permits blood[shed] of healthcare providers’; nurses union announces it will join work slowdown

Nachman Ash rails at ‘atmosphere that permits blood[shed] of healthcare providers’; nurses union announces it will join work slowdown

Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash on Wednesday sharply criticized the ongoing violence against healthcare providers, a day after a doctor was badly beaten by a patient at a community clinic.“It’s a general atmosphere that permits the blood[shed] of healthcare providers and for no reason,” Ash told the Ynet news site. “A doctor was busy and couldn’t see a patient so he broke into a room with an iron bar and hit her on repeatedly on the head and other parts of her body.

“I talked to the doctor and I understand that it was very fortunate that it ended the way it did [and wasn’t worse],” he said.

“It’s just shocking, and this violent discourse and behavior must be stopped.”

Ash also linked repeated incidents of violence against healthcare providers to anti-vaccine discourse that became prevalent during the coronavirus pandemic. “The connection exists because any discourse that encourages violence ultimately also leads to violence. These are two things that until now we did not want to link,” Ash said. “The violence toward [officials] is one matter and this violence toward healthcare providers is a second issue. But everything is connected.”

A number of top officials and doctors have faced verbal abuse and threats from anti-vaccine activists. Most notably, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the Health Ministry’s head of public services and a top COVID adviser to the government, has been repeatedly threatened by anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists who view her as the public face of the health system’s inoculation effort. Ash noted that while there were newly announced plans to station police at hospitals, community clinics were more of an issue.

“It really is a much bigger challenge. I want to say that having police in hospitals will not solve everything either. It is impossible to put a police officer in every clinic — that is clear. I believe that punishment is the key, to create deterrence,” AAsh’s comments came as the suspect in Tuesday’s attack on a doctor in the central city of Be’er Yaakov appeared in court on Wednesday for a remand hearing. Police were seeking to charge him with attempted murder.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the court was told that the suspect is alleged to have attacked the doctor with a meat tenderizer.According to police, the suspect, a resident of the town in his 30s, went to the clinic for medical treatment. While at the clinic he began to behave wildly. He refused to leave when asked by the doctor to do so, and instead grabbed a weapon and hit her on the head.

The doctor was moderately wounded and taken to a nearby hospital for further treatment. The man was apprehended by police shortly afterwards.Tuesday’s attack was the latest in a string of acts of violence in hospitals and clinics in recent months. In the wake of the latest attack, the doctor’s union announced staff at public hospitals and clinics will go on a two-day strike to protest violence against medics, by operating on a weekend schedule with reduced services for all of Thursday and Friday.

“We have made it clear over the past year unequivocally that any case of violence will encounter zero tolerance on our part,” the chairman of the Israel Medical Association, Prof. Zion Hagay, said on Tuesday.

“The most recent strike has led to an important government decision to place police in emergency rooms and allocate the necessary manpower, but we must look solely at how things are implemented on the ground. As long as we do not see real action in the immediate term, we will intensify our actions until someone here wakes up and understands that violence in the health system is a real epidemic,” he said. The nurses union said Wednesday that it will be joining the strike.

The upcoming strike is the second initiated by the doctors’ union in recent weeks. A labor action was called last month after family members of a patient who died at a Jerusalem hospital attacked medical staff and caused significant damage to an intensive care unit after they were informed of his death.

Advantages-Disadvantage of being a doctor

     25 factors- why health care is expensive

REEL Heroes Vs Real Heroes

 21 occupational risks to doctors and nurses

Covid paradox: salary cut for doctors other paid at home

   Medical-Consumer protection Act- Pros and Cons

Expensive Medical College  seat- Is it worth it?