BGU | MY PATH, Haim Doron, MD

There is no question of the historically central role of Hadassah as a first-rate medical service hub and a major force in medical education in Israel. Hadassah, together with the Hebrew University, established the first medical school in Israel. This medical school trained generations of top-quality doctors, many of whom became department heads at hospitals throughout the country. And they, in many respects, set the standard for medicine in Israel. Hadassah also played a special role in the history of medical research in the country – from the outset to this day. The partnership between the Hebrew University and Hadassah enabled establishment of other schools essential to the health system in Israel. The development of other major hospitals such as Sheba, Beilinson, Ichelov, Rambam, and Soroka was built on the foundations laid down by Hadassah. The development of additional medical schools in Tel Aviv, Beer Sheva, Haifa, and Tzfat, has contributed to the overall system for medical education in Israel; but the place of Hadassah and the Hebrew University remains unassailable. From the beginning of the 1970s, together with a team of assistants, I began to delve deep into the heart of health economics -- hospitalization costs. At the time, we had developed a basic budgeting program at Clalit hospitals for costing hospitalization by department. It factored in age components of the area population and average hospital stay time. At one point, my advisors pointed out to me that hospital stays at Hadassah in Jerusalem that were billed to Clalit for services to its members were inflated and out of proportion with those at other hospitals. We are talking about outlays of more than several million dollars a year, even if one deducted from the calculation the number of patients who were special cases referred to Hadassah from outside Jerusalem. I turned to my friend Prof. Kalman Mann, director-general of Hadassah Hospital 102 and showed him the numbers. Prof. Mann requested time to look into the matter but failed to find a solution. I proposed several alternative solutions, for example, a regional hospitalization scheme or rotation among the Jerusalem hospitals, but failed to receive his OK. Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem Shaare Zedek (Hebrew for “Gates of Justice”] established in 1902, has been part of the Jerusalem landscape for over a century. From its inception, Shaare Zedek has treated patients of every race, religion, and nationality, but the hospital has a religious orientation, ie. It operates in keeping of Jewish medical ethics and caters to the special needs of Torah-observant patients. 103 All these years it has operated medically on a high standard. In the latter half of the 1980s, a new building for the hospital was built in the Beit HaKerem Neighborhood of Jerusalem. It replaced the old Shaare Zedek Hospital in the center of Jerusalem. The new building had a fine and unique design, the vision of Prof. David Meir, an American born pathologist who was director of Shaare Zedek at the time. Construction, however, caused huge debts that spiraled Shaare Zedek into a serious financial crisis, leading the board to decide to bring Prof. Meir’s tenure as director to a close. I was still looking for a solution to the matter of hospitalization costs at Hadassah for Clalit members in the capital. Charles Bendheim, and Ludwig Jesselson, two religiously observant American Jews, were holding Shaare Zedek afloat with their work and financial support, which included soliciting donations from other American Jews. I was acquainted with them, and the two were keen to establish a working relationship with Clalit that could assist Shaare Zedek 102 Prof. Kalman Mann (1912-1997) was born in Jerusalem and studied medicine in the UK, where he received dual degrees in medicine and surgery. He later received a degree in tropical medicine and hygiene. He specialized in pulmonology and returned to Israel in 1949. In 1951 he became the director-general of Hadassah Hospital and served three decades. He rebuilt the Mt. Scopus campus and developed the Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem. A public activist, after retirement in 1981, he served as president of Yad Sara, an NGO that lends out medical equipment, from canes and crutches to hospital beds. 103 Although Shaare Zedek Hospital is staffed by many religiously observant medical staff, from traditional and modern orthodox to ultra orthodox, at the same time its staff is very diverse. Twenty-five percent of staff and patients are Arabs.

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