WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION FIFTY-THIRD WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY Provisional agenda item 16 A53/INF.DOC./5 10 May 2000
Health conditions of, and assistance to, the Arab population in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine
At the request of Israel, the Director-General has the honour to transmit to the Fifty-third World Health Assembly the attached report by the Ministry of Health of Israel.
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ANNEX COORDINATION AND COOPERATION BETWEEN THE ISRAELI MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND THE PALESTINIAN HEALTH AUTHORITY 1999-2000
1. The Palestinian Health Authority has been managing the health and medical systems in the West Bank area for the last five-and-a-half years and in the Gaza area for the past six years. The friendly and professional relations between the officials of the Israeli Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Health Authority have founded relations of understanding and of fruitful cooperation between the parties. 2. The ongoing dialogue and the feeling of partnership are based on the common understanding that health and medicine should not be mixed with politics and that sincere cooperation in these fields is essential for the sake of the Israeli and the Palestinian people. 3. In addition to the routine cooperation in the field of complementary medical care provided to Palestinians at Israeli hospitals, and besides the cooperation in the field of professional training, plenty of activities are being promoted as an outcome of the work of the following four joint committees.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC MEDICINE AND EPIDEMIOLOGY 4. The Committee deals with:
HEALTH
INCLUDING
PREVENTIVE
(a) public health issues in common to both sides (like HIV/AIDS, brucellosis, rabies, influenza, meningitis, the re-emergence of tuberculosis and outbreaks of epidemics of various other infectious diseases); (b) exchange of medical information and statistical reports including data on communicable and noncommunicable diseases; (c) coordination of common policy on immunization;
(d) programmes for prevention of communicable diseases and projects for early detection of noncommunicable diseases.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 5. The Committee deals with: (a) exchange of information on various items of environmental health;
(b) elaboration on problematic issues concerning the quality of drinking-water, sewage treatment, solid wastes and air pollution;
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(c)
coordination of common policy on environmental health.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON FOOD CONTROL 6. The Committee deals with: (a) determination and review of standards and regulations for ensuring good foodmanufacturing practices in Israel and in the areas of the Palestinian Authority; (b) determination and review of rules and regulations regarding imported food products as well as of rules and procedures for transportation of food products between the two sides.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON DRUGS AND PHARMACEUTICALS 7. The Committee deals with: (a) ensuring the quality, effectiveness and safety of drugs and pharmaceuticals produced in Israel and in the areas of the Palestinian Authority; (b) determination and review of rules and procedures for transportation of drugs and pharmaceuticals between the West Bank area and the Gaza area and between Israel and the areas of the Palestinian Authority; (c) determination and review of rules and regulations regarding donations and importation of drugs and pharmaceuticals, in accordance with the economic agreements between the two parties; (d) foundation of bilateral relations between the schools of pharmacy in the Israeli and Palestinian universities.
ADDITIONAL FIELDS OF ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN COOPERATION Complementary medical services at Israeli hospitals provided to Palestinian patients 8. Referral of Palestinian patients to Israeli hospitals for hospitalization and for ambulatory care is continuing regularly in accordance with the medical needs for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up owing to the lack of certain facilities in the areas of the Palestinian Authority. About 4500 patients from the Palestinian areas have been hospitalized in Israel during the last year (around 3000 from the West Bank and around 1500 from Gaza). About 9000 patients from the Palestinian areas have been referred to Israel for ambulatory care or for diagnostic investigations and laboratory tests (around 6000 from the West Bank and around 3000 from Gaza). 9. The Palestinian patients who have been treated in Israeli hospitals could be classified into four categories: (a) patients referred officially by the Palestinian Health Authority;
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(b) (c) (d)
patients who have decided voluntarily to be treated at Israeli hospitals; emergency cases including injuries due to road accidents; workers in Israel suffering from work accidents.
10. Referral of Palestinian patients continues regularly although no official contracts have been signed yet between the Palestinian Health Authority and Israeli hospitals. The Palestinian Health Authority is a guarantor of all payments for complementary medical care in Israel according to the regulations and procedures agreed upon by the two parties. 11. Free movement of Palestinian patients and ambulances between the Palestinian areas and Israel as well as between the regions of the West Bank is ensured by the appropriate administrative action of the Israeli coordination and liaison offices.
Training programmes in Israel for Palestinian health and medical personnel (a) Six physicians are continuing their residency programmes in different clinical specialties at the Hadassah Jerusalem Medical Centre. Two physicians are having their residency in pulmonology and allergic diseases at the Ichylov Tel-Aviv Medical Centre; (b) physicians, nurses and technicians from the Intensive Care Unit at Khan-Yunis hospital have been trained at the Intensive Care Unit at the Barzilai-Ashkelon hospital (joint venture of the Israeli Economic Cooperation Foundation together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Department of International Cooperation); (c) physicians, physiotherapists and occupational therapists from Palestinian rehabilitation centres are being trained at the rehabilitation centre of Shiba Tel-Hashomer Medical Centre (a project of the Israeli Economic Cooperation Foundation); (d) series of study days, seminars and workshops have been held for Palestinian physicians, nurses, paramedical workers and medical technicians in various branches of health and medicine (cooperation between the Israeli Economic Cooperation Foundation and the Palestinian Health Council and the Palestinian Red Crescent).
Israeli-Palestinian joint projects developed and implemented by the Israeli Economic Cooperation Foundation (ECF) 12. These projects carried out jointly with the Palestinian Health Council were in the fields of: drug addiction, diabetes mellitus, health-hygiene-safety at work, rehabilitation, social work and others.
Cooperation between three partners: Israeli Ministry of Health, Israeli Economic Cooperation Foundation (ECF) and Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) 13. The project was on the topic of primary health care – cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian clinics.
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Cooperation between Magen-David-Adom of Israel and the Palestinian Red Crescent 14. Continuous good relations and fruitful cooperation are persisting between these two parallel bodies in the fields of first-aid and emergency medicine including cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Cooperation between the Department for International Cooperation of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Palestinian Health Authority and the Palestinian Red Crescent 15. Series of training programmes for Palestinian physicians, nurses, paramedical workers and other health workers have been organized and financed by the Department for International Cooperation of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the fields of medical administration, nursing administration, public health and primary health care.
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