BGU | MY PATH, Haim Doron, MD

During my tenure as medical director and as director-general of Clalit, Dr. Meir Goldenberg was the head of the sick fund’s dentistry department. His contribution to forwarding public dentistry was great. First of all, he brought dentists from abroad, particularly from Latin

America. But as noted, many quickly moved into private practice. Secondly, we instituted two revolutionary steps in dentistry:

I approached Prof. Shlomo Simonson, the rector of Tel Aviv University, and together we decided to establish a school of dentistry, a partnership between Clalit and TAU. Up to this point, the only school of dentistry was in Jerusalem. How could Simonson justify Clalit’s participation in such a venture that included establishing a building on campus to house the school? Dental education in Israel, like medical education is a six-year curriculum after high school. The first three years are considered to be pre-clinical, or undergraduate, education. According to the original plan, initially, enrollment in the new school would consist of students who had completed undergraduate dental education in some other country. 121 This option led to the return of many Israelis studying abroad. In addition, the students in the new school had to make a commitment to serve for three years as dentists in the periphery - in villages, frontier areas, and development towns. They signed contracts to this effect, and the contract was upheld by the courts when someone challenged it. Dozens of dentists completed their training in this manner and served for a period in underserved communities. Eventually, shortly before my tenure as director-general was drawing to a close, the Tel Aviv University dental school wanted to change its curriculum and operate a six-year program, as in Jerusalem. Clalit cancelled the partnership with the school since there was no longer any justification for it. In the aftermath, the Tel Aviv University dental school entered a period of serious financial crisis. For a time, there was a real danger, barely avoided, that it would be forced to close. Another step taken by Clalit was to promote and establish dental insurance, a partnership between Clalit and the Labor Federation-owned insurance company HaSneh. This insurance scheme was called Dikla, and through the Dikla Insurance Company Ltd. we were able to provide dental care to groups of employees through their place of employment. We even established on-site clinics in certain large workplaces. However, HaSneh ultimately ceased to exist. Dikla today is no longer a dentistry plan. It underwrites long-term eldercare, under a private insurance company, Harel. Operation of a country-wide public dentistry network would be very costly. In my opinion, it is far more important to provide coverage for long-term eldercare. Nevertheless, as time goes on, I believe dental care will have to be covered. The most pressing issue today is dentistry for seniors. Countless elderly persons in their last years are walking around toothless, without means to pay for dentures, a situation that has serious gastroenterological ramifications and impacts negatively in other health realms. I believe insurance covering children and seniors should take priority over insurance for the general public as a whole. 122 In this respect, I have high regard for previous deputy minister of the MOH Yaakov Litzman’s efforts to institute dental care for children and youth. Unfortunately, this doesn’t solve the problem of dental care for adults, particularly seniors in Israel. This is an acute issue that has yet to be addressed.

121 Shvarts S., Rusetska A., "Advertising in the Health Care System: Competition in the Era of the Compulsory Health Insurance Law", in The Health Care System- Where To? (Doron H., editor), Ben Gurion University Press 2009, pp.275-292 (Heb.) 122 As noted in Footnote 120, by the time Prof. Doron created this memoir, coverage for children and adolescents were being added. Since his death, coverage for the elderly has become a reality. Nonetheless, there is not yet coverage for the general adult population, and failure to cover services for that population contributes to the great need of seniors for dental care.

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