When it comes to the access and quality of medical rehabilitation services to which patients are entitled through public health services, there is clear discrimination between residents of the north and south of Israel compared with those in the center. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) recently filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court in order to demand this situation be reformed.

The petition was filed by ACRI Attorney Reut Cohen, in cooperation with the relatives of those patients in need of rehabilitation, as well as the Citizen’s Forum for the Promotion of Health in the Galilee, the Health Forum in the South, Physicians for Human Rights and Bizchut – the Israel Human Rights Center for People with Disabilities. The petition calls on the Minister of Health to put an end to geographic discrimination and to determine criteria that define a reasonable period of time, distance and quality for receiving medical rehabilitation services.