Medical interns announce strike as Israel prepares to vaccinate
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein recently extended the permit allowing interns to work 26-hour shifts.
By TOBIAS SIEGALMedical interns protest at Tel Aviv's Habima Square on Saturday, May 9. (photo credit: MAARIV)
Medical interns from hospitals throughout the country will strike on Monday over long hours, December 21, the Mirsham Association for Medical Interns announced on Wednesday.A message by Mirsham indicated that the strike will take place because Health Minister Yuli Edelstein hasn't advanced a previously discussed pilot program to shorten interns' consecutive working hours. Currently, they are liable to work 26-hour shifts.Edelstein recently extended the permit allowing interns to work the long shifts - a controversial issue that has recently surfaced and drawn more public attention following several protests by interns, who have claimed they are being treated as slaves.On Tuesday, dozens of interns from hospitals and clinic across the country gathered in front of Edelstein's residence, protesting their unbearable working conditions. In May, some 2,500 interns protested in Tel Aviv, demanding shorter shifts. And in February, a doctor at Beersheba's Soroka-University Medical Center committed suicide, the fourth such death in the preceding year and a half. Chairman of Mirsham, Dr. Rey Biton, noted the overwhelming pressure that medical interns are constantly under, especially during the pandemic."Our dedication to patients is being exploited," Biton said. "They're abusing the fact that we're collapsing underneath the responsibility and have no time to take care of ourselves," he added."So today we say - no more! We'e had enough of empty promises. We demand shortening interns' shifts right now!," Biton concluded.The announcement of the expected strike comes shortly after President Reuven Rivlin announced that he will be visiting Hadassah Hospital on Sunday in order to be vaccinated for coronavirus. His visit is expected to mark the beginning of the nationwide operation for vaccinating the country, with tens of thousands of Israelis expected to be vaccinated every day. The strike, planned for Monday, might make the comprehensive operation more complicated.
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