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Dec 29, 2013

are Haredim at fault for not enough ambulances in Bet Shemesh?

There is a debate going on in Bet Shemesh after an upsetting article blaming the haredim for not having enough ambulances in Bet Shemesh.

The problem is that by law, or by instruction from the Ministry of Health, an ambulance has to take any woman picked up to give birth to whatever hospital she wants to go to. Anywhere in the country.

That means, the ambulances are being used as a taxi service, which is common enough, to get people to Laniado Hospital in Netanya, or Maayanei Hayeshua Hospital in Bnei Braq or elsewhere. This takes the ambulance out of Bet Shemesh for a significant amount of hours - the ambulance has to drive there, get the woman in and take care of whatever procedural things they need to do, and then drive back. All this time, the ambulance is not available for emergencies in Bet Shemesh.

A local paper, one with a bad attitude to Haredim in general, is blaming haredim for the shortage of ambulances - the haredi women use the ambulances as a free ride to Netanya or Bnei Braq instead of going to give birth in Jerusalem (which is where logically Bet Shemesh ambulances should be directed to).



The problem is not with the Haredim. They are doing nothing wrong. It is not their fault Bet Shemesh does not have enough ambulances, nor must they not not go to Netanya, if that is what MDA and the Health Ministry allows.

The real problem is that it is allowed in general.

Maybe Bet Shemesh needs more ambulances. If they can get more, great. Not happening in any significant way any time soon.

Maybe Bet Shemesh needs to have a hospital or birthing center built somewhere in the region. If that will happen, great, but I don't think it will solve the problem. Many women will still want to go to the hospitals of their choice around the country for a variety of reasons. Also, this is not going to happen so quickly.

The real solution is for MDA to stop allowing the use of the ambulance as a taxi service. Ambulances should be kept within regions. Ambulances from Bet Shemesh should not be allowed, except in case of emergency or with a special order from the Health Minister or head of MDA perhaps, to go any further than the hospitals in Jerusalem. Ambulances in other regions should be allowed to only travel to hospitals within their region.

If a woman wants to go to Netanya, she has that right to, but she should have to find her own way there,  such as her own car, a taxi or whatever, or bite the bullet and go to a closer hospital.

It is not the fault of the haredim. It is the fault of a bad rule in MDA and in the Health Ministry that allows it. They should recognize that cities and regional councils have limited resources and cannot afford to have their ambulances offline for such long periods of time.


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15 comments:

  1. I agree. Let the ambulances go anywhere the patient wants, but charge by the km for any destination outside the operating zone. Perhaps a bill of a few thousand shekel will dissuade the practice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Demonstrations, riots, moetzet, etc agsinst the evil Tziyonim and mizrachim who wont allow charedim to use ambulances, etc (satire)

      The real ptoblem is that MDA ambulances do not go over the "green line" .

      Delete
  2. The ambulance-as-free-taxi policy has to stop. Ambulances should be limited to taking an active labor to the nearest medically appropriate facility. If the medic is confident (based on patient exam) that birth is not imminent, then maybe an alternate facility in the same city according to patient preference. That policy would ensure that people call an ambulance ready to go to a close facility. If they want to give birth farther away, they can plan accordingly and start spending Shabbat by the in-laws in Netanya, etc.

    Normally, a birth should not be an emergency call. Both my kids rode to the hospital inside their mother in a taxicab. Granted, it was inside the city; but with a little foresight and rational thought many mothers in early labor can safely go by car. I agree that ambulances should be limited to their region except for special cases like MCI, interfacility transfer, and the like. Another exception is the common case of kibbutzim and yishuvim that use their ambulance for birth trips, often a pretty fair distance.

    I strongly disagree with Avi above. There is no way that this should be left up to the patients, if they are willing to pay an exorbitant fee. Ambulances need to be available in their area for real emergencies. MDA has to change their policy, and make sure the public knows it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The solution is definitely to have more ambulances, but to charge nominal fee (not some crazy MADA milk-you fee) . How many people live in your city? And you have once ambulance? That would be a good enough reason to not vote for Abutbol.

    As for the taxi service for woman in labour, what a wonderful thing it is to live in Israel! Serving a woman in labour is an incredible mitzvah/obligation rooted in Torah. Go ask your rabbi about that and then demand more ambulances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. serving a woman in labor takes precedence over serving a woman having a heart attack?

      Delete
    2. Beit Shemesh and RBS are no longer hicktowns but they are still in the boonies so either create a local Haredi birth centre, or do the cheaper thing and buy more ambulances and/or allow private services to pick up the slack. Rafi, do health services in the R/BS city compare to Arab towns?

      Delete
    3. health services here are great

      Delete
  4. Of course the chareidim are at fault. They are at fault for everything, don't you know that. I actually saw on another local blog that the UN has cited the charedi birth rate, and the number of diapers they use as a major cause of global warning.

    Paroah thought he had a good solution for the chareidi problem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. once a chareidi always chareidiDecember 30, 2013 10:35 AM

      Enough of this childish cynicism that "the chareidim are blamed for everything from the weather to the dollar euro exchange rate".
      Let the chareidim grow up and start taking some responsibility for what they are actually responsible for (for example the ones who actually did cheat in the elections and create the big chillul hashem)

      Delete
    2. You missed Anonymous' point. Even if the chareidim "start taking some responsibility for what they are actually responsible for" (your words, not mine), the feeling is that they would still be blamed for far more than is correct..

      Delete
    3. You missed my point. They should grow up!
      Their persecution complex (feeling that they are blamed more than is correct-your words) and their cynicism is not doing them any good.

      Delete
    4. While you may or may not be correct in general, that doesn't have much to do with the specific case in point of blame for lack of ambulances.

      Delete
  5. mada has lots of crazy laws imposed on it. if someone calls and says that they need to get to the hospital, they have to take him, period, even if they know the whole thing is a fake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But if you are not hospitalized overnight, you will be charged around 700NIS for that privilege :-)

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

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