Private Hospitals & General Practice in Palestine before 1948 (Nakba), British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 614. Chapter XVI: Social Services : Section 1: Health Services : (a) General Outline :

CHAPTER XVI.

for l944, by which time their bed strength had been appreciably diminished by the closure of the Italian and German units, is estimated at £P.230,000.

In recent years the Arab community has organised societies for the care of the tuberculous.

PRIVATE HOSPITALS :

15. Even before 1930 private hospitals (nursing homes) conducted for profit were a feature in Palestine. Between 1930 and 1936 large numbers of doctors from Europe immigrated into Palestine. Many of them found it impossible to make a living in general practice and so opened nursing homes. The fact that the supply of hospital beds has lagged behind the demand has enabled these institutions to flourish and they have increased in number. The economic prosperity resulting from the war has assisted them still further and they are at present in a flourishing condition. The bed strength ratio of this group is 10 per cent. All but one are conducted by Jews.

GENERAL PRACTICE :

16. The main feature of general practice in Palestine from 1920 till the beginning of World War II was the very heavy immigration of Jewish doctors from Europe between 1930 and 1936. This affected the standard of medical practice unfavourably, with the result that a quota law," regulating the number of licences issuable annually, was introduced in 1935 and is still in force. In 1930 there was one doctor to every 1,300 of the population; from 1940 onwards it was one to 660. The modern view is that the ratio of one per mille of population is liberal. The ratio of Jewish to Arab doctors is about 9 to 1. In the past when the country was free from civil disturbance there was a tendency for Al-abs to seek treatment by Jewish doctors and for the latter to set up practice in Arab areas.

17. The figures presented in tabular form on the next page display some of the features described in the preceding paragraphs.
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* The Medical Practitioners (Amendment) Ordinance, Law of 1935, Vol. I. page 167.

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