A report published by the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Unit (COGAT) shows a 10 percent increase in the number of Palestinian Authority Arabs who received treatment in Israeli hospitals in 2012.
The total number of 219,464 patients, 21,270 of them children, includes the companions accompanying the patients in Israel.
The numbers represent a dramatic increase in the number of PA Arabs who receive treatment by Israelis medical professionals, compared with 197,713 patients in Israeli hospitals in 2011 and only 144,838 in 2008.
In addition to the PA residents treated in Israel, in 2012, the Civil Administration paid $560,000 to send PA Arab doctors, nurses, and paramedics for training in Israel. The report failed to state how much Israelis were taxed to fund a budget to finance critical medical procedures for patients who are not covered by Palestinian or UNRWA health insurance and are not able to pay privately.
The report apparently covers only Yesha; it excludes Aza from which come additional patients.
QUESTION
Why aren't patients from Aza sent to Egypt for medical treatment?
Why aren't patients from Yesha sent to Jordon or Syria or Lebanon for medical treatment?
To be humane, let emergencies be accepted at Israeli hospitals, stabilized, and transferred - in a PA ambulance - to an Arab hospital. That's pretty much standard procedure in the U.S.; a critically ill person is brought to a nearby hospital for emergency care and when stabilized, the patient is moved to a specialized hospital, to a recovery center, or sent home.
There are patients in Israeli hospitals who for whatever reason lack coverage from the PA governments in Aza and Ramallah.
With the Israeli government cutting services and subsidies to the lowest economic sectors in Israel, WHY must the government set aside Israeli taxpayer money for people who vow to make "Palestine" - from the sea to the Jordan border - free of Jews; to wipe Israel off the map?
It does not compute.
It might be less expensive for Israel to build a heliport in Ramallah than to accept more than true emergencies from the PA. (Aza has a jet-capable airport.) It is 112 air miles between Ramallah and Amman; it is only 78 air miles from Gaza to Amman. From Ramallah to Cairo is 266 air miles; from Aza, the distance is 215 miles.
I wonder how many miles it is from Mea Shirim to Amman.
