Fears of a "bypass route" for speech therapy: Demand to stop the new "practical engineer" program
A call for applications for the training of "practical engineers in the healthcare system" is sparking opposition among speech therapists. The association claims that instead of "therapy assistants" with limited authority, a 2,000-hour program is being created that could blur professional boundaries: "Devastating consequences for the quality of care."
The Israeli Speech and Hearing Association demanded on Tuesday to stop the call for applications for the "practical engineer in the healthcare system" training program in its current format, claiming there are fundamental gaps between it and the recommendations of an inter-ministerial professional committee of the Ministry of Health from February 2025.
In a letter sent to the Director-General of the Ministry of Health, Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, and the director of MAHAT, the association claims that while the professional committee sought to create a limited role of "therapy assistant," who would work under the guidance and supervision of a qualified professional, the new program could effectively create a new professional tier in the healthcare system.
The association emphasizes that they support the attempt to find solutions to the manpower shortage in the public healthcare system, but argue that the chosen path does not match the professional recommendations upon which the program was supposed to be built. According to them, the current outline could lead to "devastating consequences for the professional status and the quality of care for the public."
From "therapy assistant" to "practical engineer"
One of the main disputes concerns the definition of the role. According to the association, the Ministry of Health committee deliberately chose the term "therapy assistant" to clarify that this is an auxiliary worker who is not an independent professional. However, in the call for applications, the track was defined as "practical engineer in the healthcare system."
"MAHAT's choice of the name 'practical engineer in the healthcare system' creates an independent profession out of thin air," the letter states. The association fears that the new definition will create an expectation of professional independence among students, mislead patients, and even open the door to the leakage of authorities, including the risk of graduates opening private clinics without sufficient oversight.
Another gap concerns the length of the training. According to the association, during the expert committee's discussions, the possibility of training with a scope of about 1,000 hours was raised. In the new program, however, 2,000 study hours were set.
Fear: Actually worsening the shortage of speech therapists
One of the association's main arguments is that the program intended to deal with the manpower shortage might actually make it harder to train new speech therapists. Academic institutions are already struggling to find enough clinical placement sites, and the association fears that those limited places will be "taken" by students of this MAHAT program, harming the training of the next generation of professionals.
Child development and hearing: Fear of leakage of authorities
Another dispute concerns the child development system. The Ministry of Health's expert committee determined that therapy assistants should not be integrated into child development units due to the complexity of the work. However, the new program does not explicitly exclude this field and includes courses in pediatrics and developmental psychology. A similar fear arises in the field of audiology, where the proposed syllabus includes content related to hearing impairments, which could blur the line between the knowledge learned and the actions permitted in practice.
"An illusion of a bypass route to a degree"
Another issue that sparks opposition is the requirement for colleges to present a signed agreement with an academic institution for granting future exemptions as a criterion for winning the tender. "This requirement creates an illusion among learners that this is a direct 'bypass route' to an academic degree in health professions," the letter states.
At the end of the letter, the association's executive committee demands to stop the call for applications in its current format and to make urgent adjustments so that it accurately reflects the professional recommendations of the Ministry of Health committee.
