Court Ruling on IMA Additional Beds Petition

In January 2011 the IMA filed a petition demanding the court to order the immediate addition of 100 beds in intensive care units and 500 beds in internal medicine departments in hospitals across the country, in addition to a long-term plan for extra beds in the public health system.
 
On the 16^th June the Supreme Court published their ruling rejecting the petition. The verdict by Judge Miriam Maor, and was joined by Justices Edna Arbel and Salim Joubran.

The reason for rejecting the petition was based on the government's decision at the end of February, which among other things, confirmed the addition of 960 beds in six years, and the state's response to the petition that there should be an intention to add 120 beds in intensive care wards in 3 years (40 beds per year). The High Court ruled that in light of this decision and the present disposition of the court not to interfere too much in priorities of national economics, restrained the judicial intervention, and will allow the state to implement the solution to the plight of hospitalization which they declared (together with other solutions as substitutes for the inpatient and outpatient community).

Judge Arbel and Justice Joubran noted that if the plans for additional beds will not be implemented, the court will not hesitate to intervene in the future.

Petition Judge Arbel said that "the plight of hospitalization as presented to us, paints a dismal and disturbing picture."The judge noted that 'if any further delays in implementing the plans presented occur, the court is most likely to find itself less restrained, and ready to intervene.'"
 
Justice Joubran stated that we cannot accept a situation in which a patient, at precisely their most vulnerable moments, was forced to sleep in the hospital corridor and to receive medical treatments exposed to every passerby. This severely harms the human dignity and privacy of patients. The judge agreed with Judge Arbel and noted that nothing lasts forever; the future may result in less court restraint.