While it is easy to show the benefits to PA (Palestinian Authority) residents following the signing of the Oslo Agreements, one would be hard-pressed today if one attempted to show just how Israeli benefit from the agreements signed. The following report highlights the overcrowding in hospitals, and in many cases, due to the large number of PA residents being treated.

While the report does not mention security concerns, this is a concern for Jews hospitalized alongside PA residents, especially when their families come to visit.

A growing number of Israelis who have reason to be in hospitals are questioning why there are so many non-Israelis, PA residents in particular, who are enjoying Israeli healthcare, taking beds in hospitals. In fact, the Knesset Health Committee is addressing this concern, seeking to understand by a growing number of Israeli hospital beds and hospital resources are being allocated to PA residents. The committee postponed addressing a bill, the Medical Tourism Bill, which seeks to set a cap on the number of non-Israelis being treated without paying for the service. The bill, as its name implies, is designed to address tourists as well.

Arutz-7 adds that a researcher from the Lavi watchdog organization targeted the situation in Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Department in particular. The Lavi worker who visited the hospital learned that in the unit mentioned, there is one Jew, on Russian and that most of the patients are PA residents, calling the situation a “national calamity”.

Lavi is calling on the Knesset Committee to take the bull by the horns and address the situation, citing the PA residents are taking the spots needed by Israelis as there is a critical shortage of hospital bed space around the country.

The report also sites that Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital Pediatric Oncology Unit is the same, with about 90% non-Israeli occupancy.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)