Israeli patients with psychological disorders suffer shortage of care

While more than 250,000 Israelis are suffering from psychological disorders, only 130,000 are being treated by institutions, data published by the Israeli Ministry of Health revealed on Monday.

As part of the preparations for a month of education about psychological disorders, psychiatrist Gaudi Lubin from the Enosh Institution for Psychological Disorder announced the statistics.

According to the data, only 70,000 patients suffering from psychological disorders receive monthly allowances from the National Insurance Institution. The data also reveals that there are 18,000 institutions with specialisations in this area.

The data showed that 45 per cent of patients in general have access to different healthcare advice, while only 35 per cent of patients with bipolar disorder receive this kind of advice.

Only 30 per cent of patients with phobias receive appropriate healthcare, the data showed, and even fewer of those who suffer from depression receive healthcare, around 20 per cent.

According to the report, this data shows how wide the gap is between the number of patients who need healthcare in Israel and those who have access to healthcare.