An analysis of CBS and OECD data on government investments in medical R&D reveals a gloomy picture: only 0.5% of government R&D investments are in the health care sector; the past five years have seen a 20% decline in hospital research funding
compared to other OECD countries, Israel is ranked lower in R&D health investments. In addition to this data, we also found that in Israel there is a lack of health program management and transparency, as well as a lack of health policy and long-term planning, which harms Israel’s ability to deal with future crises.
Policymakers must learn from such models as are employed in countries comparable to Israel – countries that lead in the health R&D field, such as Finland, Norway, and Ireland.
It is imperative to establish a clear and long-term strategy that includes various scenarios (including those such as the “Covid-19”), to encourage collaborations between ministries and sectors, to invest in medical research at a rate similar to that of comparable countries, to enable access to Israeli health databases, with the required regulation, and to act with full transparency.
