Healthcare in Israel: What They Don’t Tell you in the Introductory Booklet

The Jewish Agency and Ministry of Absorption print over a dozen booklets about different aspects of life in Israel, ranging from studying to housing to employment and of course there is also one on healthcare. Like many pamphlets there are lots of pictures and bold headings, but not too much useful bits of information.

One recommendation that I would advise to add to next year’s edition is “never get blood work done on a Sunday morning.” First thing you have to know about Israelis, more correctly Israeli doctors, is that they love to send you for blood work. I went to the doctor to ask about a very minute problem and he saw that I didn’t have any blood tests done so he sent me to the lab. 7 vials of blood and a urine test later I was still as healthy as before and now knew my cholesterol level, iron level and a bunch of other things that I have no idea what they are used for. A few of the test results fell outside of the average levels so he sent me back for more tests. There was no rush on these so I took my time and decided to go this past Sunday morning before work.

The lab is open 7:00 am until 11:00 am. Many places in Israel open early but this is especially early, most likely because of the number of people that have to fast for 12 hours before certain tests. I thought I would be playing it smart and not get there right when it opened and beat the initial rush. You can imagine my surprise when I arrived at 7:30 and realized that I was number 103. The reception was only checking in on number 64 and the lab was still on 42. At that moment I realized that my quick trip to the lab would not be as quick as I thought. So I sat down, took out my ulpan reading and listened to everyone else complain about how many people where there.

It took me half an hour to get to reception and another 30 minutes to get into the lab. Thankfully this time it was only 3 vials of blood and throat culture and I was out of there in about an hour. Next time I am going mid week.