Israeli Health Ministry Report Reveals Major Waiting Time Gaps for Surgeries and MRI Scans

The Israeli Ministry of Health released its 2024 report on elective surgery waiting times and the 2025 report on MRI scan wait times, highlighting significant disparities between public hospitals and health maintenance organizations (HMOs). The data, collected from 28 public hospitals, covers surgeries funded publicly and excludes private hospital procedures.

For cataract surgeries, with 32,506 operations planned in 2024, the national median wait is 50 days. However, patients at Carmel and Emek hospitals face median waits of 202 days, and Soroka 119 days, while other hospitals like Laniado and Shamir report much shorter waits of 22 and 27 days respectively. Hernia repair surgeries (11,848 in 2024) show a national median of 52 days, but Carmel, Beilinson, and Emek hospitals have medians exceeding 100 days, contrasting with 13 days at Barzilai and 26 days at Bnei Zion and Ziv.

Knee replacement surgeries (3,430 in 2024) have a national median wait of 70 days, yet Soroka and Emek hospitals report 166 and 108 days respectively, while Ziv, Sharon, and Wolfson hospitals have much shorter waits of 14 to 36 days. Tonsil and adenoid surgeries (8,672 in 2024) show a national median of 78 days, with Galilee Medical Center and Emek hospital patients waiting over 130 days, compared to just 7 days at Ichilov Hospital.

The 2025 MRI waiting time report reveals a national median of 35 days from doctor referral to scan, with an average wait of 55.1 days across 570,076 scans. Significant differences exist among HMOs: Clalit patients wait the longest with a median of 47 days, while Meuhedet patients experience the shortest median wait of 24 days.

Despite these disparities, Israel's waiting times compare favorably to OECD averages. For example, knee replacement median waits in Israel are 70 days versus 199 days in OECD countries, and cataract surgery waits are 50 days compared to 68 days internationally.

The Ministry also published reports on the most contaminated hospitals in Israel and introduced an AI development aimed at reducing psychiatric hospital wait times.