The special committee for the Rights of the Child, chaired by MK Kathrin Shitrit (Likud), conducted on Sunday a tour of the Sheba Medical Center’s Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital. At the hospital, the committee visited the Department of Child Psychiatry, and its eating disorders unit. In addition to committee chair MK Shitrit, the tour was attended by MKs MK Pnina Tameno Shete (Blue and White—National Unity Party) and Adi Ezuz (Yesh Atid).
Committee Chair MK Shitrit said, “We were exposed to one of the flagship departments in the healthcare system for treating eating disorders, but even this department cannot meet the national need. It is essential to replicate this model everywhere.
“I was impressed by the professional, dedicated, and sensitive work of the medical and therapeutic staff. It is a high-quality workforce that operates with exceptional devotion and under adequate conditions, with a deep commitment to the well-being and rights of children and adolescents dealing with eating disorders.
“At the same time, a serious issue arose that cannot be ignored – a significant national shortage of hospital beds. This shortage harms the ability to provide timely care to children and adolescents who need life-saving treatment and puts families in an unbearable state of waiting and uncertainty.
“As Chair of the Special Committee for the Rights of the Child, I will do everything I can to ensure an increase in beds and resources in the eating disorders departments, to make certain that every child across the country receives timely, accessible, and appropriate treatment. This is an urgent need, and it is a national responsibility,” she said.
Prof. Doron Gothelf, Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit at the Safra Children’s Hospital, said, “In recent years, Israeli children and adolescents have faced unprecedented emotional and mental challenges. The unique model we developed in the Psychiatry Unit was designed to provide a precise response to these difficulties. We hope that it will be adopted as a national model and expanded to additional hospitals and medical centers across the country, alongside a significant strengthening of community-based treatment services.
“Our responsibility is clear: to build an accessible and high-quality treatment continuum that will allow every child to receive timely, professional mental health care, wherever and whenever they need it,” he said.
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