Health Minister Yacov Ben-Yizri
צילום: דודו אזולאי
83 new drugs added to medicine basket
Committee approves 83 out of 437 drugs that will affect lives of 340,000 Israelis. Drugs approved include medication for treatment of breast cancer, AIDS, colorectal cancer, diabetes. Smoking addiction drugs not included
Starting January 1, 2009, some 340,000 sick people in Israel will be able to get their hands on the medicine they need.
Friday morning, after four months of talks, members of the 'medicine basket' committee came up with a list of 83 new drugs that will be made available to the sick.
The list that was originally submitted to the committee responsible for deciding what drugs should be included in the budget of over NIS 2 billion ($53.5 mil) contained 437 medications.
The committee members said they tried to include medication for a variety of illnesses, ranging from children's disease to the elderly.
Health minister and committee chairman (Photo: Dudu Azulay)
Drugs making the list included different types of insulin that would aid 5,000 diabetics, asthma inhalers and medication for some 17,000 sufferers, eye infection antibiotics for 200,000 people, aids medications, anti-clotting drugs, genetic diagnostics exams for woman, and medical foods for sick children.
"I wish to apologize to all the citizens and patients whose needs we could not meet this year and I hope next year they will have their needs fulfilled. For every technology that was approved, three were filtered out," said Professor Menachem Fainaro, head of the committee.
Oncology drugs were also added to the basket, including Faslodex, that will help treat 400 breast cancer patients and Nexavar for the treatment of liver tumors.
After three years of trying, Erbitux used in the treatment of colorectal cancer was also approved.
Smokers can quit on their own
The committee also addressed prescription medications used to treat smoking addiction, such as Champix and Zyban, and some members argued that including these medicines in the basket could help eradicate the problem in a few years.
The committee eventually decided against including such drugs, since the cost of smoking medications compared to the expense of cigarettes was relatively low, and should not be a hurdle in someone's attempt to quit.
Health Minister Yacov Ben-Yizri said that since 2006 the medicine basket has grown by over NIS 1.5 billion ($400 mil).
"I congratulate the people of Israel who have gotten one of the best and most advanced medicine baskets the State can provide," Ben-Yizri said.
The minister added that despite upcoming elections and difficulties with the State's budget, the medicine basket budget was safe thanks to an agreement between the Health and Finance ministries.
