Health Ministry resolves crisis with psychologists
In a statement released Wednesday, the Health Ministry said there would be “no declaration of temporary or cessation of budgeting” for the training of specialized psychologists.
By HANNAH BROWNASPIRING PSYCHOLOGISTS protest in Jaffa last year against what they see as a hostile system, with residencies that pay little and require a lot.(photo credit: THE MOVEMENT FOR PUBLIC PSYCHOLOGY IN ISRAEL)
The Health Ministry said on Wednesday that the salaries of specialized psychologists working in health funds and at nongovernmental public institutions would continue to be paid as usual, and that a budget cut to pay those salaries that was due to go into effect next month, had been put on hold.The Forum of Organizations for Public Psychology held a protest against the proposed cuts outside the Center for Mental Health in Jaffa on Tuesday and said that the move would have forced as many as 400 psychologists to be axed from public health services.But the Health Ministry said it would postpone for a year the budgetary change for internships and specialized training to allow the system to operate as usual.In a statement on Wednesday, the ministry said there would be “no declaration of temporary or cessation of budgeting” for the training of specialized psychologists.Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said, “Just as I have worked for the benefit of the various professionals such as the doctors and nurses, I will work for the psychologists. They are always important to the State of Israel, but their importance is even greater during the period of dealing with the corona.”Given the scope of the coronavirus crisis and its effect on mental health, a further cut in psychological services could not have come at a worse time.One out of every five Israelis reported suffering from high, or very high levels of depression, according to a study released earlier this month by Tel Aviv University and the Academic and Technology College of Tel-Hai.Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, symptoms of depression have increased significantly – from 14% in May 2020 to 18% in July 2020 and 20% in October.The mental-health crisis is even more acute among youth, with directors of mental health clinics and day programs for children and adolescents in Israel reporting a 71.2% increase in referrals of patients with serious suicidal thoughts during the second wave of the pandemic (August-October), compared with the first wave (March-May).Directors of public mental health clinics reported in the summer that it took almost a year for new patients to be evaluated and begin getting treatment even before the pandemic increased referrals, so cuts to psychological services would slow the process down even further.
One Tel Aviv psychologist said, “As it is, the psychologists who work in public health get a very low salary and have a heavy workload. Cutting services now, in the middle of this crisis, would have been a disaster. No one can ever say for sure how many lives we save, but we save lives.”Health Ministry Director General Prof. Chezy Levy, said, “Psychologists are an unparalleled and important element and are integrated into the overall treatment of health. Therefore, the Health Ministry has worked throughout the years to participate in the specialization of expert psychologists in their various professions.“This need has increased sevenfold in Israel, both during periods of emergency and fighting (the example of fighting in the south in front of Gaza) and certainly in this difficult year, when both the caregivers and the citizens of Israel find themselves in crisis and need psychological help.“I fully identify with the activity of the minister and the minister’s announcement of the continued support for the current format, and certainly there is no room for any change during this difficult period.”Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
