Underground COVID-19 Home Hospitals for Haredim: Non-Compliance or a Culturally Adapted Alternative to Public Hospitalization?

Abstract

This thematic study analyzed the experiences of Jewish Haredi (Lithuanian) patients in underground home hospitals during the second wave of COVID-19 in Israel. This minority comprises 12.6% of the Israeli population. Participants were 30 members of this hidden population, ages 59–78. Haredi complied with community directives rather than with the national directive of hospitalizing COVID-19 patient only at public hospitals. Compliance with community directives was driven by a distrust in health authorities and clinicians at public hospitals; by the preference of patient-centered care, a desired approach of care that public hospitals fail to implement; by the need to sustain beliefs, values, and traditions; by community leadership; and by the need to conserve political power. While health authorities view underground home hospitals as demonstrating non-compliance with the national directive, Haredi leaders view underground home hospitals as demonstrating a self-sufficient, patient-centered care alternative to public hospitalizations. Considering the benefits of patient-centered care and the growth of the multi-cultural global landscape, we call upon health authorities to explore the accommodation of patient-centered care for COVID-19 patients and the designing of an adaptive multi-cultural policy that address multi-cultural aspects of religious minorities as key to health promotion. We propose ways to implement multi-cultural policies.