Nurses make aliyah to fight coronavirus

Finance Ministry allocates NIS 80 million to facilitate employment for newly arrived immigrants.

Nurses who made aliyah and will help fight the coronavirus (photo credit: CHANA GOLDSTEIN)
Nurses who made aliyah and will help fight the coronavirus
(photo credit: CHANA GOLDSTEIN)
Thirty-four nurses who recently moved to Israel have passed their examinations and received certification. They will immediately join the fight against the coronavirus, the Aliyah and Integration Ministry said Sunday.
The immigrant nurses will help fill a shortage at hospitals and health clinics as part of a program co-sponsored by the Health, Education and Aliyah and Integration ministries and the Jewish Agency.
“It is emotional and heartwarming for me to see how many doctors and nurses have been making aliyah, fulfilling their dreams and joining the national struggle with full force,” said Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White).
Finance Minister Israel Katz (Likud) has given her a NIS 80 million commitment to facilitate employment for new immigrants, she said.
“This period of the coronavirus crisis is a challenge for all of us, especially new immigrants,” Tamano-Shata said. “That is why my ministry is making every effort to ensure they will find work in fields that are especially needed during this period.”
Her ministry’s Aliyah 2000 program is managed by the Jewish Agency. It targets immigrants in needed fields, such as nursing, connects them with potential employers before they move to Israel and helps them receive their certification as soon as possible after their arrival.
Anna Dubinsky, 39, said she was proud to pass her examinations and officially become a nurse in Israel after working in the profession for 18 years in her native Ukraine. She will work near her new home in Ashkelon.
“My family dreamed of making aliyah when I was a girl in high school, but we unfortunately did not succeed in doing it back then,” Dubinsky said. “My husband and I knew that moving to Israel would ensure a better future for our children and for us to advance professionally and personally.”
“Now, more than ever, I know how significant the medical profession is in Israel, and I am glad the Aliyah Ministry helped me join the fight against the coronavirus,” she said.