1,300 people attended the 4th annual Israel Conference for Medicine initiated and organized by Hadassah Medical Organization. Among the participants were deputy minister of health Yaakov Litzman; Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat; Cyprus's minister of health Christos Patsalides; Ambassadors; Hospital managers; senior ministry of health officials; IDF Surgeon General Brigadir General Dr. Nachman Ash; hospital management, and many other experts from the Israeli health system.
The main focus at this year's conference was epidemics of the 21st century.
Dorit Adler, director of the Department of Nutrition and Dietary at Hadassah, described obesity not just in its esthetic perspective, but also in its morbidity perspective – more and more people suffer from type 2 diabetes and fatty liver. The majority of the problem is based on western diet, which mostly consists of processed carbohydrates and sugars. She also pointed out a disturbing fact: Israeli teenagers are world leaders in the consumption of sweetened beverages.
Adler called the health ministry to join the health system and lead the fight against obesity, and defined 3 levels of action: legislation, promotion of healthy nutrition and changing our food environment.
She suggested that the government will tax snacks and sodas, subsidize the prices of healthy food, develop a nutrition standards code, and forbid children oriented snacks' advertisements.
Adler also called for removal of snack machines and soda machines from education institutions and work places, and change in dining room menus.
Dr. Alona Paz from Bnei Zion Medical Center talked about the epidemic of information overflow, and said that today every person is exposed to more than 100,000 medical websites, 10 million articles, 400 magazines. The amount of medical information is doubled once every 14 months. The overflow of information causes an inefficient use of time, stress, tiredness, sickness and also affects the quality of decision making.
The knowledge overflow creates uncertainties. Physicians are more concerned of lawsuits as a result of a change in patients' general perception that their relationship with the doctor is not measured by medical results only. The doctors have less time and they are looking for protection. As a mean of compensation, doctors send their patients to do too many tests and use too much technology. The physician gains patients' appreciation, but it costs the health system one billion Shekels ($250 million) every year for unnecessary tests, which might even be harmful to the patients. Medicine becomes defensive. It has been found that 60% of the physicians send their patients to undergo unnecessary CT and blood tests; 30% unnecessarily hospitalize their patients; 40% see in every patient a potential lawsuit; 25% have already been exposed to a lawsuit; 50% will report faults only if they will be guaranteed with immunity. Doctors who had more time with each patient were exposed to fewer lawsuits and less tended to send their patients to undergo unnecessary tests.
Dr. Michael Davidowits from Maccabi Healthcare Services spoke about yet another 21st century epidemic: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
This disorder is common among 7% of the children, but also among 4% of the adults. This is a cause for concern because it brings in additional problems: Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD); conduct disorder; anxiety; depression; developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD); learning disabilities. Without proper treatment, one can develop antisocial behavior, use drugs, become unemployed, or display low function at work and be involved in car accidents.
The use of medication became popular, mostly because they are perceived as a quick fix that fits any situation of lack of concentration. Obviously, this is wrong. Dr. Davidowits called for investment of efforts and resources in order to properly diagnose every patient, and give a solution to every additional problem.
Shmuel Aboav, CEO of "Or Yarok" Association, spoke about the car accidents epidemic. Many of them are caused by destructions originated in the car: cell phone, radio, GPS, etc. Those are added to external destructions: incidents on the road side, billboards, etc.
76% of the drivers testify that they use cell phones while driving every day, 25% read text messages (SMS) while driving, 23% talk on their cell phones without a speaker, 79% look at billboards, and 33% are occupied with what's happening in the back seat.
Researches showed that in 78% of the cases, the driver did not look at the road, and the same was in 24% of the "almost accidents" cases. A research in Australia showed that every 6 minutes the driver is distracted from the road.
Young drivers with ADHD are involved in more accidents and are more likely to be found as the cause of the accident.
Some of the researcher's advices: To develop awareness to limitations and their consequences, to increase consultations, guiding, education, parents influence, take medications according to doctors' advice only.
Cyprus's Minister of Health, Christos G. Patsalides, called the countries in the Mediterranean region to develop channels of communication and cooperation, and to maintain the stability of the region with medicine regulation. He arrived in Israel in order to sign a cooperative agreement with the Israeli minister of health. The government of Cyprus is eager to promote medical and academic cooperation with other countries in the region. Cyprus considers Israel as a destination for medical cooperation, and has sent here over 1,000 patients in recent years in a total cost of 16 million Euros.
Danny Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister, talked about the assistance Israel provides to developing countries: 260,000 interns in various fields have come here from almost 100 countries. This is part of a long term policy which intends to showcase Israel in a positive way, and medicine is placed at the top of this effort. MASHAV (Center for International Cooperation in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs) is a center of attraction for tourists who come to Israel to receive medical treatment, and there's also a field of medical consultation which starts to develop fast.
His words were emphasized by Colonel Dr. Yitzhak Kreis from the IDF Medical Corps, who talked about Israel's delegation to Haiti and about the amazing reactions around the world to its performance.
Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, Director General, Hadassah Medical Organization, talked about medicine as a tool to strengthen Israel's foreign relations and its economy. He mentioned the daily dilemmas of treating Palestinians, some of them terrorists. He referred to the medical treatment given by Hadassah and other hospitals to neediest from across the world and the huge economical potential of Israeli medical knowledge.
Member of Knesset, Tzipi Livni gave the closing lecture of the conference and mentioned the importance of medicine as one of the basic stones of the state's responsibility toward its citizens.