The court was petitioned on behalf of three amputees who report that their medical needs are not being answered, whereas amputees under the jurisdiction of other government offices receive better and more comprehensive treatment

Petitioner:  Keren Organization, PHR-Israel and The Adva Center

The court was petitioned on behalf of three amputees who report that their medical needs are not being answered, whereas amputees under the jurisdiction of other government offices receive better and more comprehensive treatment: as opposed to other prostheses available on the market, those given by the Ministry of Health do not enable walking for extended time periods because of their weight.  The inflexibility of the joints and of the foot lead to instability and result in many falls and continual and irreversible medical damage; the frequency of the exchange of the prostheses supplied to the disease-amputees is lower; they are not eligible for bathing prostheses, and as a result leg amputees must shower while sitting on a chair and enter the sea or pool with the help of another person, while jumping or crawling; moreover, the petitioners report an unreasonable time period for the provision of services at the Louis center and lack of clarity in the Ministry of Health’s regulations regarding the contents of the ‘rehabilitation basket’ and the operation regulations of National Rehabilitation Center.  The petition stated that the medical services that are currently provided for amputees as a result of disease do not allow the disabled people to exercise their full rehabilitation potential and hamper their ability to function as citizens with equal rights.

Various laws establish the right to receive treatment for veteran amputees, disabled people who were harmed in occupational accidents, accident victims and generally disabled people who underwent amputation due to disease or birth defect.  As a result, health services, rehabilitation conditions and rehabilitation devices provided to disabled persons who fall under different categories vary in their quality. The breadth of the health basket that is given to generally disabled persons is minimal in comparison to disabled persons in other categories. 
This government policy discriminates in an unfair fashion between different groups of disabled people.  Even though the various government offices’ budgets originate from the same source, the allocation between the various offices discriminates between the different groups of disabled persons.  The petitioners do not wish to disparage the reasons for providing adequate rehabilitation and compensations to those who fought for their country or were harmed during their work, but, at the same time, claim that the government cannot discriminate in providing medical services, in accordance both with the Convention on Social and Economic Rights, of which Israel is a signatory, and the Israeli Law on Public Health and the Patients’ Rights Act.