Only half a percent of the civilian R&D budget in Israel is used to finance research in the field of health compared to 10% of the OECD average, according to a survey prepared for the National Research and Development Council by the CBS * The main funders are the state, followed by a considerable margin from non-profits and health insurance funds
The distribution of civil R&D funding by the government ministries according to civil R&D goals in 2017 and which was recently published, shows that health R&D funding is significantly lower in Israel compared to the average of the OECD countries, half a percent in Israel compared to 10.1% of the OECD average This is according to a survey conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics.
In the hospitals in Israel, significant research activity is carried out both in substance and in the financial scope and the manpower invested in it. An R&D survey in Israeli hospitals was conducted for the first time in 2009 by the Central Bureau of Statistics in cooperation with and funded by the National Research and Development Council (R&D) under the Ministry of Science. The next survey was conducted in 2012, and in 2018 the survey was conducted for the third time. This survey referred to the R&D data with special funding in 2017 in general hospitals only, because in the previous survey it became clear that the research in mental hospitals is very small in scope.
Research and development survey questionnaire in general hospitals for 2017, sent to all general hospitals in Israel. The topics investigated were: medical R&D expenses, funding from the various sources, the number of doctors with academic/clinical appointments and training of graduate and post-doctorate students.
The total expenditures on research with special funding in general hospitals reached NIS 2017 million in 347.4. This is a decrease of 19.4% in 5 years.
64% of the total research expenses were carried out in government hospitals, 22% in non-profit hospitals and 14% in KPFH hospitals. Specially funded studies are studies for which full or partial funding was received, from a source outside the hospital or from internal funds of the hospitals such as permanent funds, etc.
In 2017, the salary was 65% of the total expenses for special studies.
The expenditure on research with special funding for a hospital bed was 22.7 thousand NIS. The highest expenditure on research with special funding for a hospital bed was 33.5 thousand NIS in non-profit hospitals.
The highest expenditures on specially funded studies were in government hospitals. Out of the various professional divisions, the expenditure on the research done in the internal diseases division stands out, 48% of the total expenditure.
The highest expenses were in the Central and Tel Aviv districts - 62%.
The main financiers of specially funded studies in the general hospitals were the business sector (58.5%) and abroad (20.4%).
In 2017, a significant proportion of doctors with academic/clinical appointments worked in the internal medicine division (44%) and in the surgery and children, obstetrics and women's divisions (18% each).
More than half of the doctors with an academic/clinical appointment (51%) worked in the central and Tel Aviv districts, 35% - in the Jerusalem and southern districts and 14% - in the northern and Haifa districts.
As part of master's and master's degree studies, most students (44%) are guided in government hospitals and 34% - in non-profit hospitals. Most of them were guided in hospitals in the central districts and Tel Aviv (34% of master's degree students and 50% of doctoral students) .
