For one family from Kufr Aqab, the birth of twins should have been a moment of relief after a difficult, high-risk pregnancy. Instead, it became a race against time.
The mother endured a complicated pregnancy and received care at multiple hospitals. She was initially treated at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, later transferred to Hadassah Hospital, and ultimately gave birth prematurely to twins at Beilinson Hospital.
The babies were immediately admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, where they required specialized medical care. But while their parents focused on their newborn children, another crisis emerged.
Because the family are permanent residents rather than Israeli citizens, questions arose regarding how the twins should be registered. The hospital social worker was unsure how to advance the registration process, leaving the babies without official registration in either the Ministry of Interior or the National Insurance Institute systems.
Without registration, the twins could not be properly enrolled in Israel’s national health insurance system. For premature infants requiring ongoing treatment, waiting months for the bureaucracy to catch up was simply not an option.
Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the hospital social worker contacted JICC’s Atta’a Center, which immediately began working with both the Ministry of Interior and the National Insurance Institute. Although the earliest available appointment with the Ministry of Interior was scheduled for three months later, the Atta’a team continued advocating on the family’s behalf and emphasizing the urgent medical needs of the newborns.
Following sustained intervention, Atta’a secured a temporary arrangement through the National Insurance Institute that allowed the twins to receive health insurance coverage and continue accessing the treatment they needed while their formal registration process moved forward.
Cases like this demonstrate how administrative gaps can quickly become medical emergencies. There was never any question that the babies needed care. The challenge was ensuring that the systems responsible for providing that care could respond in time.
For this family, the Atta’a Center helped bridge the gap between institutions and ensured that two vulnerable newborns could continue receiving essential medical treatment during the most critical weeks of their lives.