A Health Ministry report found Israel has 1.91 beds per 1,000 residents, compared with the OECD average of 3.4 beds.

Life expectancy in Israel is above the OECD average, the infant mortality rate very low, and the number of children per fertile woman is almost double the OECD average. Nonetheless, a Ministry of Health report, published today, comparing Israel with other OECD member states again finds that Israelis have to cope with a health system that greatly lags in resources, infrastructures, and personnel.

For example, national spending on healthcare was 7.7% of GDP in 2011, unchanged from 1995, compared with steady growth in other OECD countries over the same period. The OECD average is 9.3%. The proportion of private spending on healthcare, above the health tax, is 37.9% in Israel, compared with the OECD average of 28.5%. Only Chile, Mexico, the US, and South Korea have a higher proportion than Israel. In comparison, private spending on healthcare in Japan is 18% and in Scandinavian countries it is 16%.

See the entire article

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)