Do Jerusalem's Arabs and Jews receive different quality of medical care?

Researchers Amit Tirosh, Bmed, Ronit Calderon-Margalit, MD, MPH, Marianna Mazar, MD and Zvi Stern, MD compared the quality of care delivered to Jewish and Arab diabetes sufferers who were admitted to four major hospital emergency rooms in Jerusalem, to evaluate whether differences existed between the two groups and, if they did, their causes, given the common basis of health insurance coverage.

The researchers found significant differences. As compared to the Jewish patients, Arab patients received:

less diet counseling
fewer recommendations and less support for physical activity
less guidance in performing self foot examinations
fewer medications prescribed

“Quality of care of Arab patients with diabetes is lower than that received by Jewish patients in the city,” write the authors in the article. “Resources should be invested in early detection of diabetes among the Arab population and in intensive treatment following diagnosis, together with lifestyle modifications to improve the quality of life among Arab patients with diabetes and to decrease the economic burden of the disease.”-SAGE Publications

harminka's picture

Posted January 26th, 2008 by harminka

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