Private medical services in state hospitals in Israel to be shut down

Private medical services launched without official approval six years ago in hospitals owned by the Israeli government will have to shut down by 30 April.

The services, known by their Hebrew acronym “sharap,” have been provided in five of Israel's largest state hospitals. The cancellation of the services is the result of a 49 page ruling by attorney general Elyakim Rubinstein and months of deliberations about the controversial subject.

All of the hospitals in Jerusalem, however, which are owned and run by non-profit making voluntary organisations, have had legal sharap arrangements for nearly half a century. Patients pay the hospitals' sharap offices so that they can consult senior physicians or designate them as their surgeons. The hospitals then divide the money between the senior physicians.

Sharap began informally, …