In 2019, there were 518 complaints (the year not yet having ended) about the subject of medical cannabis compared to only 74 complaints in 2017.
92% of the complaints were found to be justified.
In one case, a patient waited months to receive the medical cannabis because his request was not typed into the computer.
State Comptroller and Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman: “I believe it is very important to strengthen the social side and it is the duty of audit to function as a voice for weak populations and those deserving advancement. We are dealing with data that indicate real distress of patients requiring medical relief. The professional teams of the Office of the State Ombudsman are examining the matter in depth and working with the relevant bodies to improve services to the citizen.”
From new data from the Office of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman, it appears that in past three years, there has been about a 600% jump in the number of complaints received by the ombudsman regarding the medical cannabis unit of the Ministry of Health. According to the data, whereas in 2017, the ombudsman received only 74 complaints about the medical cannabis unit, in 2018 the number of complaints doubled to 173. From the beginning of 2019 until today (the year has not yet ended), 518 complaints about the medical cannabis unit (an increase of 600%) had already been received, and of these, the State Ombudsman found 92% justified.
The Office of the State Comptroller explains that the majority of complainants are patients needing the medical cannabis who are complaining about the many problems they run up against when trying to get proper service from the medical cannabis unit.
Types of complaints:
Prolonged delay in handling requests: Delays in handling new requests, delays in handling request renewals that result in a break in treatment continuity and a delay in requests to raise dosages.
Failings in the computerized interface: Problems in submitting documents to the medical cannabis unit, problems in the unit accepting and assigning the documents, and errors in sending licenses and issuing instructions to patients after request approval.
Not handling of requests because of missing supporting documentation without notifying patients or doctors about this in real-time.
Lack of transparency and information regarding the status of a request and the medical cannabis unit not updating the patient on its own initiative.
Out of stock of the cannabis products at the pharmacies.
Shortage of physicians authorized to prescribe medical cannabis and mistakes in publications of the Ministry of Health regarding the physicians to contact and more.
In one case, the Office of the Ombudsman handled the complaint of a patient with multiple sclerosis who claimed that his request to get a license for medical cannabis was delayed for several months. An inquiry by the Office of the State Ombudsman found that the complainant’s request was received at the office of the medical cannabis unit but not entered into the computerized system. Following the Office of the State Ombudsman’s request, processing of the patient’s application began and then a license was issued. Nevertheless, at that point, it was found that a mistake had been made in entering the ID number on the license and following a second intervention by the Office of the Ombudsman, a corrected license was issued to the complainant to receive medical cannabis for alleviating his pain.
In another case, the Office of the State Ombudsman looked into the approval of instructions for supplying medical cannabis to a pharmacy. The complainant claimed that over a prolonged period, the supply instructions were not received by the pharmacy even though the medical cannabis unit’s call center said that he had been issued a license. Following intervention by the Office of the State Ombudsman, a delivery instruction—which should have been sent long before— was sent to the complainant.
The Office of the State Comptroller stresses that the ombudsman checks every complaint individually and assists complainants in realizing their rights. The Office of the Ombudsman sends to the Ministry of Health on a regular basis comments regarding system flaws that emerge as a result of complaints and follows up on the actions taken by the Ministry of Health to fix the failures that arise from the complaints.