Health Ministry Director-General Nachman Ash, former Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, and former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (ret.) Gadi Eizenkot discussed the coronavirus' impact on national security Tuesday.
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Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies conference, Ash said, "Had we done the conference before the coronavirus, we would have had to make an effort when it came to [making] the connection between health and national security. Today, that connection is clear.
"We don't need to focus solely on extreme cases of a pandemic but on routine, chronic illnesses, and day-to-day challenges. We learned the importance of prevention as a key means toward public health. The fewer patients we have, then from a national resilience perspective, the better situation we will be in, that is why we need to invest in prevention," Ash explained.
According to Ash, Israel's strong public health system and healthcare providers allowed the country to use its existing framework in unprecedented situations the likes of which it encountered in the pandemic. Nevertheless, he emphasized the need for extreme capabilities in intensive care. In addition, Ash said Israel should invest in data, research abilities, and health as a tool for establishing Israel in the international arena and enabling the country in certain cases to serve as a light unto the nations.
Bar Siman-Tov, who served as Health Ministry chief during the first wave of the pandemic, said the current decade is going to be challenging for the health system. We will grapple with a dramatic increase in demand for medical care and unfortunately, we don't entirely understand it. People are finding it difficult to see the picture in Israel."
He noted population growth posed a serious challenge to the health system.
"There is an increase of 1.6% to 1.8% a year. Add to that the increase in chronic illness. There are more people with chronic diseases like juvenile diabetes, fatty liver disease, and high blood pressure at a young age – and that is increasing demand. At the same time, there is an increase in life expectancy and a demand to take care of everything here and now – these are huge challenges."
According to Bar Siman-Tov, "The healthcare system needs to run as fast as possible to stand in place, and we aren't sufficing with existing quality [of care] but need to improve it." He emphasized that for systems to work better in times of emergency, they need to be able to work in routine times. "What is needed is resilience to sustain the blow, to stay with them, and return to routine [operations]."
"A starved system"
Eizenkot posited that "health should be integrated into the state's understanding of national security. Beyond that, we need to organize the national system and deal with the entire threat map to Israel, including unconventional threats, military threats, the threat of national disasters, and others. Beyond that, we need to see health as leverage for regional influence.
"To date, despite the many threats, the component of regional influence in health, energy, desalination, and agriculture assists the way in which Israel integrates into the space and gains achieves positive influence in the area and the forging of agreements."
Former Israel Bank Governor Karnit Flug said, "Israel holds the record for doctors over age 55 but the system is starved. Health system resources are low compared to international levels, and investment in the system must also be updated because of price increases as well as the aging population." According to Flug, Israel must raise the health tax. "You're talking about an increase of .5% and that isn't enough. We conducted a poll at the time and we saw that half the population is willing to pay more taxes for public health services."
Dr. Dorit Nitzan of the World Health Organization said, "I look around the world, and unfortunately, the pandemic undermined personal security and the national security of countries that were not prepared. There is rising poverty, violence, migrant movement, the closing of borders, and serious damage. On the other hand, countries that were prepared for the pandemic have been dealing relatively well."
According to Nitzan, the WHO has formulated a plan to help maintain stability, prevent injury to individuals and society, and prevent the subversion of regimes we see around the world today.
"Medicine is at the heart of global and national security, and it is appropriate for every country to prepare for such events, otherwise the impact will be very severe," she concluded.
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