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| By: Associated Press |
| Published: May 30, 2006 |
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Israeli cancer patients on Monday ended a 16-day hunger strike opposite the parliament after the government promised to transfer millions of dollars (euros) to buy more medications, according to Israel's health minister.
Colon cancer patients, along with relatives, supporters and a well known radio broadcaster mounted the hunger strike to protest refusal of the government to subsidize drugs that would prolong the lives of the patients.
"We decided to undertake a hunger strike in order to get exposure and convey our message to the public and the decision-makers," said Allon Asaf, 58, one of the original four hunger strikers.
The additional money, $77 million (?61 million) will likely be used for drugs the cancer patients need, though Health Minister Yaacov Ben-Yizri, talking to Channel 2 TV with the hunger strikers around him, would not make a clear commitment.
Under Israel's government-sponsored health system, a committee of experts draws up a list of medicines that are subsidized by the government. Budget restrictions keep many expensive medicines off the list, though some can prolong lives or even cure diseases. Wealthy patients can buy them with their own funds, but critics of the system demand that more medicines be made available to the general public through subsidies.
The government decides which drugs to subsidize based on a number of considerations such as how many people are affected, the probability that the drug will prolong life, the cost of the drug, said Eytan Sheshinski, an economics professor at Hebrew University. "It is almost impossible to make decisions like this in a rational fashion when life and death is at stake," Sheshinski said. |
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