Health Minister Yaakov Litzman announced on Sunday 22 Elul was a guest at Bnei Brak’s Mayanei HaYeshua Hospital, meeting with the senior directors and physicians. Litzman spoke of his plans to improve health services in Israel, surprising his hosts when he said that his surprise visits to hospitals around the country reveal “the situation is nothing less than catastrophic”.
“I spent eight and eleven hours in hospitals, and this requires a psychiatrist” he lamented. “We are going to make order anew and I daven to HKBH to assist me in finding a plan that is acceptable to all” he added. He explained receiving over 10,000 inquiries from citizens, and with his aides they fight to learn about the issues, stating some of the requests were literally pikuach nefesh.
Regarding the new MRI program in hospitals, Litzman explained he began the program as deputy minister in the 18th Knesset, taking a stab at former Finance Minister Yair Lapid who took credit for his work.
Litzman explained he plans to establish urgent mental health services for the chareidi tzibur, adding rabbonim will oversee the program. He was quick to add this will be for everyone, litvish and chassidish, explaining “we have to be very careful what we say today and how it is reported”.
Regarding the narrow coalition of 61, Litzman explains he believes for as long as the coalition rests on a single vote it has a chance of completing a four-year term but if the coalition grows to 82, it will fall. “If it is 67 seats I don’t know” he stated, but feels the current situation provides the most stability.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
The headline unfairly limits R. Litzman’s contribution to the haredi community only. The (secular) professionals at the Ministry of Health commend him unreservedly for the reforms that he has pushed through for the entire Israeli public. Kiddush Hashem.
Naftush-2 seems correct. Better mental health services benefit everyone.
Psychiatry is a fraud that should be abolished rather than expanded. The first thing that Rabbi Litzman should examine is the safety and effectiveness of psychotropics. They have some use as broad spectrum remedies for example sedatives to calm somebody down or amphetamines to pep up a person. However the ones that claim narrow spectrum benefits, for example by sedation or stimulation of a particular region of the brain, are not only ineffective but damaging as well. The recipient’s physical health is destroyed and their behavior gets worse.
Things like lithium will work temporarily because the recipient knows that he is being poisoned, therefore is strongly motivated to be pliable. The problem from a behavioral standpoint is that once the recipient accepts this idea, he becomes much worse. For example they accuse the doctor of being a murder while pointing out the many fatal side effects that everybody has been denying. They also challenge the medical studies and threaten legal action.
For those who are really interested in drugs treating behavioral maladies, I suggest starting the research with the use of cannabis for those afflicted with PTSD. After that ayahuasca and DMT. The final step would be psylocybin particularly the mushrooms and LSD. Among the difficulties in researching this subject is that psychedelics tend to be intimidating. Additional difficulties include their widespread demonization by their opponents and a spirit of frivolity by their proponents.
Most people agree that he is quite capable and does a good job