Young doctors vow to resign despite IMA, Treasury deal

Group of medical residents and young specialists says agreement to end doctors' dispute insufficient; call on Netanyahu to save health system.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Doctors demo311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Doctors demo311
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
A group of young doctors and medical residents voiced displeasure with the newly signed agreement between the Israel Medical Association and the Finance Ministry on Sunday, saying they would follow through with plans to resign on September 4 despite the agreement that was supposed to have ended the five-month old doctors’ labor dispute.
More than 1,000 residents and dozens of specialists signed and deposited letters of resignation three weeks ago, that were scheduled to come into effect a week from now.
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At a press conference on Sunday, the Council of Young Doctors said the terms of the agreement to end the the doctors’ dispute were not satisfactory and that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should intervene to prevent the collapse of the health system.
Earlier on Sunday, at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the agreement signed with the IMA was a “revolutionary agreement for the health system in Israel.”
He added that the deal was “good news for residents, doctors and the periphery. There will be an additional 1,000 medical residents. This is in addition to the 1,000 beds that we have added after almost a decade in which no beds were added. There will also be salary supplements of an average of 49 percent, grants for doctors who move to the periphery, less shifts, less hours per shift – this is a revolutionary agreement.”
The prime minister thanked those involved in negotiations to reach the deal to end the 158-day dispute that caused continued closures of hospital and health clinic departments. Netanyahu commended Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, IMA chief Dr. Leonid Eidelman and Prof. Yitzhak Peterburg, who mediated the last round of intense negotiations which led to the deal.
“This agreement is an additional step in a series of socioeconomic steps that this government has taken in various fields to improve Israeli society and reduce gaps,” he said.
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