IMA chief Blachar quits health basket panel, mulls shadow committee - Haaretz

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Tue., October 30, 2007 Cheshvan 18, 5768

Israel Time: 03:12 (EST+7)

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IMA chief Blachar quits health basket panel, mulls shadow committee

By Yuval Yoaz

The resignation yesterday of Dr. Yoram Blachar, the head of the Israel Medical Association, from the committee deciding the content of the health basket, has only fueled the intense debate over the ability of the committee to meet the needs of the sick in Israel.

Blachar yesterday refused the call of Health Minister Yacov Ben Yizri, to withdraw his resignation.

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Blachar charged that the committee does represent the interests of the sick, noting that about half the members on it are government officials.

The IMA is considering setting up a "shadow committee," comprising medical and ethics experts, as well as representatives of the patients, which would work in parallel with the health basket committee.

The IMA chairman has also called for an increase of the basket, to approximately 2 percent of the total Health Ministry's budget for 2008, or about NIS 480 million.

In response, Ben Yizri said that even if the budget was considerably larger than that proposed by Blachar, it will still not be possible to provide for the needs of the sick.

The committee chairman, Professor Menachem Fainaru, said yesterday there are currently nearly 500 requests for the inclusion of new medicines and medical technologies before the health basket panel.

Even though the committee members have not completed the review of all the requests, Fainaru said that "the total value of these requests is about NIS 1.5 billion, and even if we doubled the committee's budget, we would still not be in a position to help everyone."

While the committee met yesterday in Jerusalem, several dozen protesters from organizations representing patients demonstrated, demanding including specific medicines in the health basket. Also demonstrating were sufferers of Parkinson's disease, who wore masks.

"We are victims of a disease that has physical, psychological, and economic repercussions, as well as [suffering] humiliation and embarrassment," they said, explaining the masks. "Many of us are 'hiding in the closet' and are embarrassed to expose our illness in public."

The head of the Israel Health Consumers Association (ZVI), Meidad Gissin, said at the demonstration that the patients are demanding a seat on the committee, "either as observers or as full members, for the sake of transparency."

Ben Yizri expressed his sorrow that "these people have been dragged... into this fight, for no reason. The members of the committee represent all segments of the population in Israel, and this is the response to those who make charges against the committee's composition."

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