Prematurity Day 2011 in the media

From (website) Doctors,
Premature babies: the parents versus the world
Attorney Shlomit Harel-Schwartz talks about the nerve-wracking hours of premature delivery, and the difficult experience that parents face with the birth of a premature baby. The bitter truth about premature delivery
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Interview with Gabi Gazit 103fm:
"Prematurity day - why are the premature wards in hospitals collapsing? "Parents are the manpower in prematurity"
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nrg (website), 08.11.2011
Birth The date of maternity leave has expired in two weeks
The bill initiated by MK Orly Levy will go up for preliminary reading today, and is intended to make it easier for parents of premature babies whose children have been hospitalized for a period of more than 14 days
There appears to be agreement on a bill calling for a two-week extension of the maternity leave of parents of premature babies and hospitalized newborns. The bill, which was initiated by MK Orli Levy (Israel Beitnou), will go up today - International Prematurity Day - for preliminary reading in the Knesset.
...Today the Knesset will mark "International Prematurity Day" during which the bill will be put to a vote. During the day, there will be several discussions on the subject, among other things, claims of discrimination in the treatment of large premature babies who, unlike small premature babies, are often hospitalized in neonatal wards risking their lives instead of premature babies, due to the lack of space and the lack of budgets.
"We need to address the root of the problem," says MK Levy, "which begins with the severe shortage of doctors, nurses and hospital beds for premature babies in Israel and ends with institutional opacity towards premature babies and their families, also in other areas"
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The Marker (website), 08.11.2011
425 million shekels a year do not reach their destination - and premature mortality jumped in 21%
Hospitals receive from the state NIS 170,000 for each premature baby - 15 times more than the amount for a normal baby ■ But most of them divert the budget to other areas - and the condition of premature babies is deteriorating ■ Ministry of Health: "Refresh the regulations"
According to a report of the Medical Administration in the Ministry of Health submitted by MK Orly Levy-Abacsis (Israel Beitno) to the State Audit Committee ahead of a discussion to be held today on the situation of premature births, there is an immediate need to add no less than 173 doctor standards, 800 nurse standards and 240 intensive care beds for premature babies - to reduce morbidity and mortality in premature babies.
The Ministry of Health stated in response: "The Ministry recently refreshed the regulations for premature births in the context of the number of doctors and nurses. These regulations are designed to allow personnel for the benefit of quality care for premature births. At the same time, standards were added to the entire system, while adjusting the rate for maternity and premature births in coordination with the Treasury and National Insurance. The Ministry of Health plans to require Each hospital must comply with the requirements of the standards and devote all resources to the hospitalization of premature infants. A complete and unique "coloring" of the compensation is complex to perform, because the expenses are distributed across many departments that deal with the treatment of premature infants: delivery room, newborns, premature infants, maternity screening, etc. However, the office will check this option too"
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ynet, 08.11.2011
Parents: insurance companies refuse to insure premature babies
An association working for preemies appealed to the Ministry of Finance with a request that it investigate private insurance companies that, according to it, rejected applications "due to prematurity" only. Membership: No outright refusal
Do the private insurance companies avoid insuring premature babies? The Lehab association, which works for premature babies and their families, claims that many parents who wish to purchase a private health insurance policy for their child, encounter a refusal "due to prematurity", regardless of the health status of the newborn. Insurance companies reject the claim of a sweeping trend.
Menashe Dellal, chairman of the Hebrew Association: "We wanted to purchase health insurance for him, but the insurance companies refused to insure him solely because of defects," Dellal told Ynet. "Despite the medical documents and the indications that the child is completely healthy, the insurance companies refused. I decided to fight the decision to abort my child. Today he is between two years old, healthy and still without insurance."
Prof. Shaul Dolberg, chairman of the Israeli Neonatology Association, agrees. "There are premature babies who are completely healthy for all intents and purposes and there are those who are high risk, but the overall title of 'premature' is problematic.
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ynet, 08.11.2011
The Director General of the Ministry of Health in the discussion about premature births: "My hair is cut"
In a special discussion held in the Knesset's Health Committee to mark the International Day of Prematurity, the managers of prematurity hospitals reported that the standards assigned to them by the Ministry of Health for additional staff members are being referred by the hospitals to other departments. The worst situation is in the "Puria" hospital, where zero standards were assigned Out of 15 budgeted
Premature babies are collapsing - the standards are being referred to other departments: during a discussion on the dismal state of the units for special care of newborns that took place today (Tuesday) in the Knesset's health committee, Dr. Shmuel Tsangan from the Union of Prematurity Doctors revealed a document that was sent to the Ministry of Health several months ago. The screen shows that despite the distress The exacerbation in the premature wards, the hospitals do not allocate the full standards set for nurses in the premature wards and direct them to staff other wards.
Discrimination in the RSV vaccine: only for premature babies up to 33 weeks
... Discrimination between small prematures and large prematures in the subsidy for the RSV vaccine must be stopped, according to which parents of prematures born from the 33rd week onwards have to pay NIS 20,000 for the vaccine from their own pockets," said MK Levy-Abacsis
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First class news, 08.11.2011
Israel 2011: one doctor treats 16,000 newborns
The Ministry of Health report: standards for hospital beds, doctors and nurses for the care of newborns have not been updated since 1976. An immediate addition of 173 doctors, 800 nurses and 240 hospital beds in intensive care units and special care units for newborns is required. Doctors and nurses for intensive and special care of newborns The proposal will oblige the medical institutions and hospitals to regulate dedicated standards
...Following the findings of the report, MK Orly Levy-Abacsis initiated a new bill, which provides an answer to the situation described in the State Comptroller's reports from 2003 and 2009, which indicated a severe shortage of doctors and nurses in the field of neonatology.
The proposal will, for the first time, oblige the Minister of Health to establish, every year, minimum standards for doctors and nurses in the hospitalization and intensive care departments for newborns, and will ensure the allocation and staffing of these standards by charging the hospitals and medical institutions with a minimum amount of personnel. A medical institution or hospital that does not staff the full set of standards - will not receive the budget for all the medical standards designated for it, and the budget will be transferred to a bank account that will be used by an external party to manage the budget. The standards will be established by the minister, in consultation with the medical administration at the Ministry of Health.
MK Orly Levy-Abacsis said that "in February of this year, the Israeli government decided to add 1,000 hospital beds to the health system in Israel. Of these, the Ministry of Health decided to allocate 240 intensive care beds to the intensive care units. In addition, the Director General of the Ministry of Health adopted the recommendations of the report, regarding increasing the quota of ward clerks and on-calls in the wards according to the number of births in each medical center. According to the investigation we conducted - manpower and equipment were not allocated to these beds - so in practice - not a single bed was added! It goes without saying that the hospitals also did not increase the quota of drivers and on-calls in the wards."
Moreover, "According to the reports that have reached me, there are hospitals where one nurse treats 10 (!) premature babies and the doctors are required to treat both premature babies and normal babies. The human burden on premature babies is unbearable. This is a human life!", she added Levy-Abacsis.
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Doctors (website), 08.11.2011
Who will take care of the premature babies?
International Prematurity Day: Missing standards, full prematurity and, according to an association for premature babies, also discrimination between the babies in treatment and follow-up in the hospital and outside. The result - increased morbidity and mortality
Not encouraging data on International Prematurity Day. The Lehab association - for premature infants in Israel publishes today (Tuesday) hard data, according to which babies who are born prematurely are aborted from the very beginning; starting with the initial care the newborn receives and the developmental follow-up and ending with damage to the social conditions of him and his family members. The consequences are increased morbidity and mortality, developmental delay , functional impairment, etc. The issue will be brought up for discussion today in the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee of the Knesset as well as in the Audit Committee.
MK Orli Levy-Abacsis, Chairman of the "Forum for Premature Infants in Israel": "As soon as a premature baby is treated as a normal baby in terms of treatment and follow-up, this has far-reaching consequences on the quality of his life and his functioning on a physical and mental level for years. We need to address the root of the problem, which begins in the severe shortage of doctors, nurses and hospitalization beds for premature babies in Israel and ends with institutional opacity towards premature babies and their families, also in other areas."
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Doctors (website), 08.11.2011
Hospitals do not assign standards to premature babies
This is what prematurity managers revealed today at a hearing in the Knesset. At Nahariya Hospital, 3 neonatologists are waiting to start work, but they are not qualified. Director General of the Ministry of Health: I will stop the budget for the hospitals
Outrageous data about the state of premature births in Israel. Despite the acute distress in the premature wards, the hospitals do not allocate the full standards set for nurses in the premature wards, and divert the standards for staffing in other wards. The Ichilov Hospital assigns preemies only 6 standards out of 15, Barzilai 1 standard out of 10, Bnei Zion 8 out of 10, Hillel Yaffe 6 out of 10, Wolfson 0 out of 10, Nahariya 10 out of 15, Poria 0 out of 15. The data sent to the Ministry of Health , revealed today (Tuesday) Dr. Shmuel Tsangan from the Union of Prematurity Doctors as part of a discussion in the Health Committee of the Knesset about the sad state of the premature wards.
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To be a mother, 08.11.2011
New data published by the "Forum for Premature Infants in Israel" on the occasion of "International Prematurity Day" reveal: "widespread discrimination among babies born prematurely".
MK Levy-Abacsis, chairman of the forum: "We need to address the root of the problem, which begins with the severe shortage of doctors, nurses and hospital beds for premature babies in Israel and ends with institutional opacity towards premature babies and their families, also in other areas."
MK Orli Levy-Abacsis, Chairman of the "Forum for Premature Infants in Israel": "As soon as a premature baby is treated as a normal baby in terms of treatment and follow-up, this has far-reaching consequences on the quality of his life and his functioning on a physical and mental level for many years. The root cause needs to be addressed The problem, which begins with the severe shortage of doctors, nurses and hospitalization beds for premature babies in Israel and ends with institutional opacity towards premature babies and their families, also in other areas."
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Radio Kol Chai, program "Family matter", 07.11.2011
An interview with Yifat, mother of 6, tells about the experience of her last son who was born prematurely
The high-risk pregnancy units and premature intensive care units are currently in a state of severe distress and are fully occupied. The situation is particularly serious in the central area. High-risk mothers are referred to the periphery, risking their health and safety.
Yifat, mother of a premature baby: ...."The plight of premature babies is terrible. I was with 4 other children at home then, and I was simply in a premature baby almost every day until 11 o'clock at night, simply for the reason that the manpower is really, really few"....
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Non-stop radio, program by Gabi Gazit, 07.11.2011
"unbearable preterm condition"
An interview with Shlomit Harel Schwartz from Israel and Prof. Shaul Dolberg, chairman of the Neonatology Association
Shlomit from the Hebrew Bible: ... "Unfortunately, in intensive care for prematurity that is not compensated as intensive care, today there are 2 nurses on the order of 6 or 8 premature babies. Imagine 2 premature babies stop breathing at the same time"....
Prof. Dolberg: "In premature babies, compromises are made all the time. Sometimes, premature babies who should be in intensive care are moved to rooms that are less intensive care, this is because it is not possible to treat them in intensive care rooms. Sometimes premature babies are transferred to other hospitals. Sometimes a woman gives birth at risk of premature birth Moving to a hospital that has a little more space"...
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This morning, Network B, 08.11.2011
"The Knesset will mark the due date today"
Interviewees: Dr. Shmuel Tsangan and David Harbi, father of Pagit
Dr. Tsangan:..."The overload and overcrowding in premature infants is a source of mortality, morbidity, an increase in the incidence of acquired infections and a decrease in the availability of medical staff for premature infants and newborns... What happens is that the money from National Insurance goes to the medical centers, but it does not go to the development of premature infants. In practice, the number of beds, doctors, nurses and medical equipment did not improve significantly"...
David Harbi, father of a toddler:.."The problem after the toddler is that we parents are helpless. We have neither a father nor a mother..."
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"Three by Three" with Anat Dolev, Network B, 08.11.2011
Prematurity Day was celebrated in the Knesset today, an interview with Prof. Yaakov Quint, director of the Infants and Premature Department at Sheba Hospital
Prof. Quint:..."First of all, the person who organizes Prematurity Day in the Knesset and the main activist on this day is MK Orly Levy... The main problem we are experiencing, and they are not getting better with time, are severe overcrowding in premature babies and a severe shortage of medical and nursing personnel. It puts premature babies at risk. The mortality we see in Israel has been increasing in recent years, and we are not able to reach the percentages we would like, like in reformed places"...
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Radio North, 08.11.2011
An interview with Menashe Dellal, father of Lapag and chairman of the Lehab association
....."Leumi Insurance transfers approximately NIS 150,000 to the hospitals for premature births, but these funds, even though they are hypocritical, do not go to the premature babies. They go to the hospital manager's desk, pocket and clenched fist, who does whatever he wants with them"... …
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08.11.2011 mamy site
International Prematurity Day - alarming data revealed
New data published by the "Forum for Premature Infants in Israel" on the occasion of the "International Day of Prematurity" reveal: "widespread discrimination among babies born prematurely". Discrimination is manifested beginning with the initial care that the newborn receives and the developmental follow-up to which he is entitled, and ending with harm to the social conditions of premature babies and their families, including maternity leave and insurance.
MK Levy-Abacsis, chairman of the forum: "We need to address the root of the problem, which begins with the severe shortage of doctors, nurses and hospital beds for premature babies in Israel and ends with institutional opacity towards premature babies and their families, also in other areas"
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