“Catastrophic” is the word being used by many in regard to Israel’s government hospitals today, 12 Tishrei, as hundreds of residents have walked off the job, making good on the strike that has been looming. Representatives of the residents walked out of a meeting during the morning hours with Finance Ministry representatives, and strike leaders made the decision, calling for the walkout, frustrated over what they view as being a lack of government willingness to seriously negotiate towards reaching a mutually agreeable solution.
Strike leaders are calling on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to personally become involved, now, making the call at a press conference announcing the breakdown in talks, but the prime minister is calling upon them to push off the decision for an additional two weeks to permit serious talks. The prime minister’s request was unheeded.
The state has turned to the National Labor Court, seeking a back-to-work injunction in the hope of compelling residents to report to their respective government hospitals. The court will convene at 5:00pm (11:00an EST)
While surgical procedures and emergency rooms appear to be operating, clinics and many non-essential services have already been canceled and if the court does not order the residents back to work, many fear patients will die as a result.
Finance Minister Dr. Yuval Shteinitz is calling the response of doctors “anarchy”, calling upon them to return to the negotiating table, but for now, the call is falling on deaf ears.
Following is situation assessment as of 1:20pm Israel time, listing the number of residents who failed tor report for duty or walked off the job in a number of the impacted hospitals — Ichilov Hospital (105), Rambam Medical Center (77), Meir (71), Sheba (42), Wolfson (20), Bnei Tzion (18), and Assaf HaRofeh (7).
Hospitals are already diverting non life-threatening cases, and by all predictions, if the residents are not ordered back to work today, the situation in the government hospitals will deteriorate rapidly.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Did Orthodox doctors strike? In previous years, most Shomer Mitsvos doctors have refused to join strikes (based on Daas Torah)?
Is the death rate going up or down, as in the past the death rate often fell during doctor’s strikes.