Alliance for Patient Safety

The Chairperson, Karin Elharar:

I am happy to open another meeting of the State Control Committee; today, 16 / Mar / 2017, 18^th of Adar 5777. We are, yet again starting late, I apologize for the tardiness. The topic of our discussion this morning is – An application for the opinion of the State Comptroller on the topic of: Concealment and cover-up of medical malpractice cases while harming the patient’s population.

This is the second discussion in the committee on this topic; the previous meeting took place a little over two weeks ago. What was very clear and obvious in the previous discussion was that time is of the essence and we have our work cut out for us, therefore, I will cut short my opening statement, so that we are sure that the Ministry of Health has enough time to present their point of view on things. The initiative for this discussion has come from Mr. Amiad Taub. I will briefly mention the fact that this is a very sad and painful topic. Medical negligence in principle is never a happy thing, and for sure when you can see the names and faces, it makes you even sadder. Really these cases are tragic; some have even ended in loss of lives. What we would like to see is that beyond the adoption of the recommendations in the individual cases, there is also some work to be done at the principle level, something that will enable us to say that at the minimum, we have learned some lesson, and that we are doing everything, including everything, so that events of this type will not repeat themselves.

I would very much like to ask all the people present here, some of you are carrying with you your very harsh and painful personal story, I am well aware of that, and yes, I would like this to be a constructive discussion, a discussion that is looking fordepartment into the future, a discussion which would like to learn how to operate in a better manner down the line, and less an individual discussion. This is my request in this matter. Let us start with the representative from the State Comptroller’s office. Please.