According to the press release, the program is designed for Arab pre-internship medicine graduates who passed the national medical qualification exams, and is a product of cooperation between the ministries and Ryan employment centers for the Arab sector.
The pilot course, to which registration will be open until October 17, will start in December at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The course will be limited to 25 students.
According to the press release, the course will provide the students with the skills necessary to integrate into Israeli medical services, and will help improve their Hebrew, lifting it to an academic level.
It is also supposed to significantly improve their communication skills, teaching the graduates how to communicate more efficiently with their future patients.
"Fluency in Hebrew is a crucial side to the [communication] between a patient and a physician," said Professor Shaul Yatziv, head of the Medical Qualifications department in the Health Ministry.
"The information conveyed to the patient by the physician clearly and fluently will undoubtedly contribute to the understanding of the medical issues that stand before the patient, helping [the patient] understand the importance of the medical procedures and their reasoning," he said.
"It is our duty to use our best endeavors to help doctors in the very beginning of their careers understand the immense importance of fluency in Hebrew as part of proper patient care," Yatziv concluded.