JERUSALEM / Zein Khalil / AA

An official report revealed that hundreds of thousands of Israelis had to wait for appointments in public hospitals for more than three months, prompting a large segment of them to turn to private medical services to bypass the long waiting lists.

The report was based on data from the 2025 Social Survey published by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (government), which was released on Sunday and examines public opinion on public health services in Israel, as reported by the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

According to the data, more than one million Israelis aged 20 and over who visited a specialist during 2025 had to wait more than a month for an appointment, while about a quarter of those who received treatment in public hospitals during the same year, approximately 1.5 million people, believe that the level of medical care provided there is 'not good'.

Additionally, 29% of survey participants expressed dissatisfaction with the long waiting time for hospitalization, including the time needed to obtain the medical referral and its approval.

In emergency departments, 20% of visitors, about 540,000 people, rated their experience negatively, with the main reason for dissatisfaction being the long waiting time, as 61% of visitors, about three out of five, expressed frustration over the time they had to wait before receiving treatment.

The data showed that 37% of those who visited a specialist waited up to two weeks between booking the appointment and the visit, while 23% waited between two weeks and a month, and 24% of patients, about 800,000 people, waited between one and three months.

Moreover, 9.9% of patients, more than 300,000 people, had to wait more than three months for an appointment with a specialist, according to the report.

Long waiting periods were recorded in several medical specialties, with 67% of those who visited gastroenterologists waiting more than two weeks, 62% who visited internists, 60% who visited neurologists, and 60% who visited urologists.

The report indicated that the longest waiting times were in dermatology, where 44% of those who visited dermatologists had to wait more than a month for an appointment.

The report also showed that about 1.5 million Israelis believe the level of care in public hospitals is not good, while 24% of Israelis think the health system does not provide its services fairly.

According to the same data, 19% of Israelis aged 20 and over, about 1.2 million people, turned to private medical services during the past year, with the main motivation being to get an appointment sooner.

A report by the Israeli State Comptroller in November 2024 had warned of the worsening waiting list crisis in the health system, after reviewing about 57.3 million medical appointments.

The report, published on the website of the State Comptroller and Ombudsman of Israel, confirmed the continued increase in the number of appointments exceeding 90 days for medical services in several specialties.