Waiting for a specialist or surgery is not just a matter of technical convenience; for a person suffering from persistent pain, a senior citizen, or a chronic patient in need of life-saving monitoring, every additional day can involve physical suffering, deep worry, and an acute impairment in quality of life. Official data released in 2024-2025 illustrate this disturbing reality in the healthcare system in Haifa and Israel.
According to an analysis by the Taub Center, based on Ministry of Health data for the second quarter of 2025, the median wait time for a specialist in the Haifa district was 90 days, and the average was 94 days. This means that half of patients had to wait three months or more just to receive an initial response from a specialist. Nationally, wait times in critical medical fields such as neurology and endocrinology were around 50 days.
The situation is even worse when it comes to surgical interventions. In elective surgeries reported in 2024, the median wait time for eye surgeries at Carmel Medical Center in Haifa jumped to 202 days, compared to huge gaps in other hospitals in the country (such as only 22 days at other hospitals). This means long months of waiting with severe damage to vision and daily functioning.
In my personal opinion, these numbers are not just a technical problem of record keeping, but a testament to the public health system. When Haifa residents are required to wait six months for eye surgery or three months for a specialist, the system is failing in its most basic duty towards the citizen.
These data raise difficult questions: Is the severe shortage of doctors and manpower in the public system crushing the ability to provide a reasonable response? Has a roundabout path been created here that pushes exhausted citizens to private medicine? And until when will we continue to accept a situation in which healthcare in Haifa depends on the patient's financial ability?
The question "Who is abandoning?" is directed at The public health system and policymakers, who are raised in their most basic role towards the citizen.