On Monday, YWN published an article about a new partnership between United Hatzalah (UH) and “United Ambulance Of Israel” (UAI), which Hatzalah claims will double the pre-hospital care options in Israel. The new partnership is a direct competition to Magen David Adom (MDA) and an effort to break their monopoly on transporting patients to the hospital.

Magen David Adom has responded with the following unedited statement. It has not been edited in anyway by YWN:

Magen David Adom, Israel’s national EMS and blood-services organization, and Israel’s Ministry of Health separately denounced a new partnership between for-profit Israel ambulance services and United Hatzalah, saying the initiative would create confusion among people needing ambulances and could potentially endanger lives.

United Hatzalah is a private first-responder NGO that operates separately from the more than 20 other Hatzalah EMS organizations under MDA’s auspices.

The Ministry of Health expressed grave concerns about United Hatzalah and the independent ambulance companies’ plans, which was announced without the ministry’s approval and disrupts a initiative already underway by the ministry to put the independent ambulances under MDA’s dispatch system.

The initiative, called 600 + 600 by United Hatzalah, claims that it will put 600 private ambulances operating in Israel into service to add to what it says is the 600 currently used by Magen David Adom. In fact, MDA has 1,100 ambulances in service, nearly twice that amount.

Currently, Israelis dial “101” to reach MDA, which then dispatches the nearest emergency responders — whether it’s an MDA volunteer or an EMT from another EMS service. Under the agreement between United Hatzalah and the private ambulance companies, an additional medical emergency phone number would be publicized, essentially competing with the 101 number that’s generally accepted in Israel as the number to call in medical emergencies.

“Establishing an additional dispatch center, beyond the national emergency dispatch center, 101, operated by Magen David Adom according to the law, might confuse the public and endanger human lives,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.

While the idea of making additional ambulances available to save lives is seen as a laudable one, the announcement between United Hatzalah and the private ambulance companies is problematic for several other reasons:

• First, it also creates the illusion of a second national ambulance service when, in fact, large swaths of the country aren’t served by either United Hatzalah or the private companies. Calling this second number would, in many cases, significantly delay the time it takes for an ambulance to reach the patient.
• Second by announcing this arrangement without approval of the Ministry of Health, United Hatzalah is subverting a Health Ministry initiative already underway that would have put the independent ambulances under the auspices of MDA’s dispatch center, would have made the current system simpler, and used the independent ambulance services for roles they’re qualified to do, which is mostly transferring chronically ill patients to different medical facilities.

After United Hatzalah spent millions of dollars on a dispatch system after being told specifically by the Health Ministry that, as mandated by law, MDA’s dispatch centers would serve as the national dispatch center for medical emergencies, United Hatzalah is now looking for an initiative to justify the expenditure.

Other critics of the partnership pointed out the hypocrisy of United Hatzalah, which for years touted the fact that it doesn’t charge for its services, but will now be entering into business with for-profit ambulance services. By contrast, Magen David Adom is a nonprofit entity, 92% of whose EMTs are volunteers, and whose sole motive is to provide patients with world-class emergency medical care.

Others have also questioned the quality of care that would be offered by the new Hatzalah partnership. Read more at YWN