Following Adalah's letter, the Kupat Holim Clalit Health Fund Agrees to Open a Health Clinic in Tel Arad, an Unrecognized Arab Bedouin Village in the Naqab (Negev)
The General Director of the General Health Services (Kupat Holim Clalit) in the Southern District agreed in principle to open a health clinic in Tel Arad, an Arab Bedouin unrecognized village in the Naqab (Negev), according to a letter dated 25 April 2010 and received by Adalah on 15 June 2010. The General Director indicated that it is necessary to complete a field tour in order to learn about the requirements of the residents in the village. Other Clalit clinics in neighboring villages will provide support and assistance when the new clinic opens.
The reply came in response to Adalah's letter to the Attorney General (AG) sent in November 2009 on behalf of residents in Tel Arad and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR-IL). Adalah demanded that the AG give instructions to the Ministry of Health to open a clinic in the village.
Attorney Sawsan Zaher stated in the letter that 2,000 residents live in Tel Arad, and they are legally entitled to health services as stipulated in the National Health Insurance Law - 1994. There is no health clinic in the village and the residents must access clinics in the surrounding area, for example in Arad city, which is approximately 20 km away. Most residents of Tel Arad do not own a car and must walk about 40 minutes to even reach any public transportation, which exacerbates the situation significantly, particularly for women and their children. As a result most Tel Arad residents do not access health service entitlements as guaranteed under Israeli law.
The lack of a health clinic and the associated basic health services violates the right to health, bodily integrity and dignity as well as equality as guaranteed under the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty.
Health clinics exist in almost all Jewish Israeli communities in the Naqab, and the lack of clinics in the Arab communities demonstrates overt discrimination between Arab and Jewish towns and villages in the same geographic area. In its report on the health services in the Naqab, PHR-IL revealed that each Jewish town has at least one health clinic, while most Arab Bedouin unrecognized villages have none. The accessibility of Jewish communities in the Naqab to a doctor is significantly higher than among Arab communities; there is one doctor for every one thousand Jewish citizens of Israel in contrast to one doctor for every 3,000 Arab citizens of the state.
