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This was written for an assignment in Medical Information Specialist class I attended in 2006. Essay: Culture Report; Carver Career and Technical Center. Subject: “Israel, a Country of Advanced Achievement in Medicine and Industry” by Teresa Carr Since it became an independent nation on May 15, 1948, Israel has achieved a great deal of advancement in many fields in its over 50 years of existence from social living and agriculture to industry and medicine. So much so that it surpasses many of western Asian countries by far in their success in pursuing effective Public Health policies is reflected in the fact that a nation of immigrants who arrived during the past 50+ years principally from North Africa, the former Soviet Union and Central Europe, has the highest average life expectancies in the world. Its way of life resembles that of the United States and Europe. Thousands of years of neglect had turned much of Israel into a wasteland. Long before the state Israel was established, Zionist pioneers began to reclaim this wasteland. From all their hard work they made it fertile land again. To this day the Israeli government continues this reclamation work. The most part of these achievements are in the medical field. Scientists have developed modern day miracles that far exceeded the technology of other Western nations, medical methods and machines that have contributed to the eradication of most congenital diseases in the Middle East. Much of Israel knowledge of medicine goes back to 6,000 years in history contains a lot of gems of scientific accuracy that is found in the Old Testament and the Pentateuch (Books of the Law) of Moses tell that God told His people concerning blood in Leviticus 17:14 which says, “For it is the life of the flesh; the blood of it is for the life therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.” Today, we know that blood is made up of white blood cells that fight off infections, red blood cells that carry oxygen to feed the cells of the body, platelets to help with clotting, and plasma to regulate water content and maintain temperature. A common practice up until recent times was “blood-letting” in which patients were bled in various ways such as leeches and cuts. The life-giving blood was drained away resulting in the death of many patients. George Washington was one such patient who died as a result of “blood-letting.” Also associated with medicine is sanitation. Leviticus chapters 12-15 spells out some basic sanitation rules: (1) The recognition and diagnosis of disease; (2) The separation or isolation of the diseased person; (3) The designation of anything that had been touched by a diseased person as unclean; (4) The process by which the unclean became purified; (5) The destruction of those items that could not be cleansed. Today scientists have documented these medical principles of sanitation. Fielding Garrison in his book of “History of Medicine” said that these rules laid out in the first five books of the Bible are extraordinary, notable chapters of ancient medicine. Robert Hudson’s book “Disease and Its Control” said, “the ancient Hebrews have been termed the founders of preventive medicine.” Moses was trained in Egyptian wisdom (Acts 7:22) whose medicine was considered the finest in the ancient world. One seasoned scholar claims that in ancient Egypt only three out of ten children born could survive to adulthood and the average life span was only thirty years. It is estimated that one in every four Americans will be infected with some type of sexually transmitted disease. The Center of Disease Control in the U.S. says the best way to control sexually transmitted disease is having one sexual partner. Interestingly enough this is what the Bible has said for over 5,000 years. According to Hebrews 13:4, “Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled.” The most popular rule from Exodus 20:14 is “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” With other areas of medical science, the Bible proves itself to be an accurate source far ahead than and actual scientific discoveries. Medieval science even blamed venereal disease was an evil influence on the joining of two planetary bodies. More logical measure that the Bible gives is “an ounce of prevention” is far better than “a pound of cure.” It was also first mention in the scriptures, that the first surgical procedure performed was circumcision. Chapter 11 of Letivicus also gives the laws of proper nutrition and the right foods to eat to aid in good health. This is why the name kosher or kashrut, from the Hebrew term kasher meaning “fit,” is used to describe the Jewish dietary laws and the importance of a healthy diet and disease prevention. Israel has a high standard of health services, top-quality medical technology and research, modern hospital facilities and an impressive list of physicians to contribute to the country’s high standard of health today. The Ministry of Health is responsible for the development of health policy, the operation of the nation’s public health services and management of the government’s health care budget. Medical services are provided through four health insurance companies, known as sick funds. Kupat Holim Clalit, or the General Sick Fund, the largest insurance company was founded in 1911 by a small group of agricultural workers. The public debate on health system reform has focused on a national health insurance law. This law came into effect on January 1, 1995. Since the mass immigration of Holocaust survivors in the 1950’s health care was in growing demand and the Ministry of Health and Kupat Holim Clalit expanded their medical facilities to cope with the increasing demand for health services. Today’s Israel population is nearly six million; the majority of the population is urban and is rated among middle-income countries. The average life expectancy is 79.5 years for females and 75.5 years for males. The health system has 47 hospitals, 2000 community-oriented primary care clinics throughout the country operated by sick funds, the Ministry of Health or the municipalities. The health services include health education programs, monitor child development and a comprehensive immunization program for newborns to 5 years. The inoculation system has changed along with the changing incidence of diseases, such as diphtheria and polio, have completely disappeared. Even though health insurance was not mandatory in Israel until 1995 about 96% of the population were insured before the National Health Insurance Law came into effect. Two factors have played a major role in the maintenance of a high level coverage among the population. (1) Membership dues were graduated by income and based on family status. (2) Availability of services was founded on need, not ability to pay. The government passed a health insurance bill in 1973 requiring every employer to pay a health tax designed to finance a portion of his/her employees’ health insurance premiums. Sources of funding of health costs include progressive health insurance premiums paid by each resident, employers’ health tax payments, National Insurance Institute funds, tax payments, funds from the Ministry of Health budget and consumer participation payments. Some diseases that are prevalent to Israel and the surrounding Mediterranean region are: Mendelian Genetic Disorders
(mutated genes): Familial Dysautonomia (Riley-Day syndrome) Familial Mediterranean fever, an inherited rheumatic disease. Behçet’s Disease Gaucher Disease Bloom Syndrome Canavan’s Disease Tay-Sach’s Disease Fanconi Anemia Fabry Disease Neimann-Pick Disease Torsion Dystonia Nonsyndromic Hearing Loss Non-Classical Adrenal Hyperplasia Cystic Fibrosis Infectious
Diseases Boutonneuse (Rickettsial) fever (Mediterranean Spotted fever), transmitted by a dog tick. Predisposition Genes
diseases (combination of specific genes): Crohn’s Disease Colon Cancer Breast Cancer Some of these diseases are mostly genetic type of diseases, and with years of research, sophisticated technology, education and prevention most of these have been eradicated from the region, due to the research in gene therapy and genetic engineering. Because Jews tend not to marry outside their faith and community, the relatively high frequency of these genes did not pass into other communities. Israel has four world-class medical schools, each affiliated with a major university. They are Hebrew University Medical School associated with Hadassah Medical Organization; Tel Aviv University Medical School; Technion Medical School in Haifa and the Ben Gurion Medical School in Be’er Sheva affiliated with Kupat Holim Clalit runs a special program in community-oriented medical education with an emphasis on specialization for family physicians. There are two schools of dentistry, one of pharmacology and some 20 nursing schools, plus courses for physiotherapists, occupational therapists and nutritionists, x-ray and laboratory technicians are available. There is no area of medicine to which Israeli devices have not made significant contributions. Cardiology, genetics, neurology and ophthalmology are just a few benefiting from advanced Israeli technology. In close cooperation between medical research institutions and industry has lead to successful progress in the development of special medical equipment. Israel CAT labs, state-of-the-art surgical lasers, advanced microcomputer-supported devices, intelligent medical sensor that can track and use instruments to an exact 3-D location in the heart and other organs, essential for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment are exported worldwide. Israel has pioneered the development and use of laser surgical instruments, electronic medical equipment, computerized monitoring systems and other life-saving and pain-relieving devices. Some of the most notable achievements include:
Israel has absorbed Holocaust survivors and a large proportion of immigrants suffering from tuberculosis, malnutrition, heart disease and every type of cancer. Today 25% of all cancer patients in Israel are newcomers from the former Soviet Union including tens of thousands from parts of Ukraine and Belorussia who was exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear plant meltdown in 1987. The Zionist Movement in pre-state Israel, which combined the traditional Jewish concern for all people with an emphasis on societal needs, regarded public health as top social, political and economic priority. Traditional Medicine has also played an important part of Israeli research agenda. Concentration is the investigation of Tibetan multi-herbal formula, Padma 28, historically use to treat an over consumption of meat, fat and alcohol conducted by the Hadassah University Natural Medicine Research Unit. Research is exploring the uses of traditional Chinese, Middle Eastern medicinal plants, Seaweed and Marine Organism, Alternative Medicine education and Stress Reduction. Stress Reduction would be a challenging goal to master, a fact that even physicians living in Jerusalem through ongoing conflict affects of terrorism and increasingly violent situations, on one hand protesting against terrorism and the other hand showing empathy and understanding. Hadassah University has played a big part in the research of bone marrow transplantations, organ allografts, and tumor cell vaccines, immunotherapy of cancer, genetic engineering and embryonic stem cells. With all the medical contributions that Israel has made to the nation and to the rest of the world it would take a book to list them all. The characteristics if Israel’s research and technology is to find solutions on a timely scale and allocate those resources needed to support this aim. Israel’s emphasis in on emerging innovation, this focus is the university and hospital and to lesser degree on the industrial sector. Industry is a key player in the process, and with this phase of basic and applied research, commercialism takes place. When a product leave the university and proceeds to industrial process, production and marketing spawns new development and this in turn is good for the economy. In 1995-97, Israel’s healthcare exports rocketed upwards from $623 million to $990 million US dollars. By encouraging neighboring nations to work together with shared common problems, the U.S. National Institute of Health has granted funds for projects in Israel, a peaceful relationship that will benefit all patients and the improvement of the quality of life. UPDATE: In a recent news update, November 2007, from
Israel Today reports that Israeli scientists have identified the mechanisms
that control the growth and spread of breast cancer, moving Israel one step
closer to finding a cure to the killer disease. The findings came from
Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science regarding metastasis of breast cancer
cells were published in Nature Cell Biology.
An institute spokesman said the findings would enable scientists to better
understand how cancer spreads throughout the body, and possibly lead to the
development of medication to successfully combat the disease. Padma Basic can be purchased from EcoNugenics at 1-800-308-5518 or online. In Canada, contact Professional
Health Products, 4307 49 St., Innisfail, Alberta, T4G 1P3 or call,
1-800-661-1366. You can also get Padma Basic at Dr. David
Williams online catalog,
or call 1-800-888-1415. ©2006. Teresa Carr. Skyhouse Communications & Mega
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