Of the 1,000 additional job slots for physicians in the public health system that were agreed upon by the Treasury when the doctors’ strike ended 21 months ago, 585 have been allocated to reduce the night and weekend duty, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.
The rest will be added until the end of 2015. Of the job slots to be filled, 124 will be allocated according to medical specialties, while 50 will be given to immigrant doctors and allocated in cooperation with the Immigrant Absorption Ministry according to their potential, the ministry added.
The Health Ministry consulted throughout the process with the Israel Medical Association and the professional medical societies to map out the shortages of physicians in various specialties. Priorities will be given to adult and pediatric emergency departments (26 job slots for adults and 11 for children), psychiatry (24), geriatrics (24), pediatrics (16), general rehabilitation (8) and pathology (2).