While for Jews in the United States becoming a doctor is a highly sought after profession, the same cannot be said in Israel. Since 2000 there has been a 12% decline in the number of physicians in Israel per 1,000 residents from 3.71 to 3.26. The primary reason given is many doctors have reached retirement age while fewer younger Israelis opt to enter medical school. The population has also increased.
The statistics for completing medical school in Israel stand at 4.1 for every 100,000 residents as compared to an OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) average of 10.4. The OECD average of doctors to residents is 10.4. There are a total of 35,237 doctors in Israel today of which 17,885 are board certified specialists and 26,000 are over 65-years-old.
In 2012, 922 licenses to practice medicine were issued in Israel. The percentage of women serving as doctors continues to climb as well, from 39% in 2000 to 42% in 2012. The number of doctors under age 45 is on the downswing and today it represents 27% of the nation’s physicians as opposed to 38% in 2000.
The nursing field is not fairing any better as the OECD average of nurses to residents is 42.8 while in Israel that number is 11.4. While in 2000 there 6.47 nurses per 1,000 residents under the age of 65, that number in 2012 dropped to 5.86. There are 59,374 nurses in Israel of which a staggering 46,000 over the age of 65.
The number of doctors employed in the nation’s health system is even lower. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics that number stands at 25,000, as opposed to 35,000 nurses.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
The reason: The medical system. Watch what happens in america in a few years. It’s not prestigious to be a doctor in israel. Being a lawyer or working for the govt brings much more money. The doctors are treated like regular city workers. Why go through so much studying for a job that doesn’t bring normal money or honor.
These statistics are obviously quoted incorrectly. If there are 35k doctors, and 26k are over 65, then only 9k medical licenses have been issued in the last 35 years (assuming doctors are licensed around age 30). But hen we’re told that 900 licenses were issued in 2012 alone!
Considering that the strike of doctors and nurses a year or so ago produced not significant advances for them, is any of this a surprise?
Actually, the primary reason is simple: while the population of Israel has grown dramatically, b”h, it did not add any new medical schools until very recently. For many decades, Israel made due with only 4 medical schools (Hebrew U, Tel Aviv, Technion, Ben Gurion). For a long time, the shortfall in locally trained doctors was more than made up for by an abundant influx of olim, primarily from the former USSR and, to a lesser degree, from western Europe and North America. As the large waves of aliyah subsided it became clear that Israel would need to add more locally trained doctors and a few years ago a fifth medical school was opened (Bar Ilan) which should be turning out a significant number of doctors within a decade or so. And unless aliyah picks up again, Israel may have to add a sixth medical school in the future to meet the needs of its growing population.
Having said that, and rounding out the numbers: 35,000 doctors for 8 million people works out to 437.5 doctors per 100,000 population, which is actually very high. And 25,000 for 8 million works out to 312.5 doctors per 100,000 population, which is still significantly higher than the US.