The National Labor Court decided late Wednesday night to issue an injunction against rebelling medical
residents clamoring to strike on their own – without permission from the Israel
Medical Association.
During the day, police had prevented hundreds of protesting
residents and interns from entering the headquarters of the IMA on Rehov
Jabotinsky in Ramat Gan.
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IMA to ease sanctions following request by Labor Court At Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, doctors
left their respective departments and disrupted traffic on Rehov Shaul Hamelech
near the IDF Military Headquarters (Kirya) as they marched toward the IMA
offices.
Hundreds of medical residents walked out of hospitals in most of
the country – though not in Jerusalem – throughout Wednesday in protest against
a potential agreement to end the labor dispute between the IMA and the
Treasury.
Residents abandoned their respective departments at Barzilai,
Assaf Harofeh, the Rabin Medical Center- Beilinson Campus, Meir, Wolfson, Sheba,
Rambam Medical Center and Shalvata hospitals.
In an effort on Wednesday
to help both the Treasury and the doctors climb down from their rigid positions
and end the long labor dispute, President Shimon Peres called on the two sides
to do everything they could to “reach a solution for patients and the future of
medicine.”
Speaking at a ceremony honoring outstanding workers, Peres
commented on the sanctions that began in April, saying, “The situation that has
been created harms patients above all, and this is intolerable. I am not
interested in preaching to either side, but I call on all those involved to
reach a solution.”
Even as the court, presided over by Judge Nili Arad,
was discussing ways to end the dispute, the IMA – instructed by Arad not to
provide any information in the meantime – officially insisted that no agreement
had yet been reached. It did, however, issue this press release on Wednesday
morning: “A total of 126 days have passed since we declared a work dispute. Our
struggle is at its height. There is a lot of anger among doctors who struggle
daily for the future of the public health system. Only a significant
change in the system will make it possible to restore doctors’ daily lives to
their routine.”
For the second day in a row, the IMA found itself the
opponent of not only the Treasury negotiators, but also of many young medical
residents and interns, who are the lowest on the medical totem pole, earning the
least and working the longest hours.
A group of these have organized
themselves into a non-profit organization called Mirsham (literally
“prescription”) and hired lawyer Tal Keret, head of the labor law department in
the Zissman-Aharoni-Geyer Law Office, to represent them “in their
struggle.”
The young IMA rebels maintain that the senior physicians
represent the interests of specialists and other veteran physicians more
vigorously, and are not doing enough to reduce the number of night and weekend
shifts filled by the residents and interns.
Rambam Medical Center’s doctors’ committee
announced Wednesday that on Thursday, the whole hospital would run on a minimal
emergency schedule. No elective surgery will be performed, outpatient clinics
and diagnostic institutes will be closed, and only urgent care will be
provided.
Senior IMA executives plan to visit member physicians in
various hospitals and health fund districts in the coming days to explain their
position.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the haredi Radio Kol Hai, the
medium on which he is interviewed almost daily, Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov
Litzman verbally attacked the medical residents and interns – and, indirectly,
the IMA – by saying that the young doctors should not have gone out to fight
with the IMA at a time when “the labor dispute is in its final
stages.”
Litzman maintained that “the crisis is within the IMA” and that
its chairman, Dr. Leonid Eidelman, with whom Litzman has often crossed swords,
“is a leader without followers.”
The United Torah Judaism MK said that
during the last three months, he has often fought on behalf of the residents to
improve their work conditions, but never received any support from
them.
Litzman said that representatives of the Treasury and the Health
Ministry on the one hand and the IMA on the other had put together a proposed
agreement and were waiting on Wednesday night for Judge Arad’s
approval.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report