IDF chief medical officer Brigadier-General Nachman Ash feels that the requirements for one to enter medical school in Israel are unreasonably high. He stated that if the current standards existed when he entered medical school, he would not have been accepted.

In a recent letter sent by Ash to the director-general of the Health Ministry, Prof. Avi Yisraeli, Ash points out that the current standards are unreasonable and are partially responsible for the critical shortage of physicians in Israel. The letter also addressed the IDF’s controversial plan to open a medical school towards alleviating the critical shortage – a plan that would certify military physicians by working with an existing medical school.

In response, the director of Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center, Prof. Rafael Beyar sent a letter to Yisraeli stating the establishment of a military medical school would result in irreversible damage to medicine in Israel.

Ash stated that in private phone conversations with Beyar, he expressed support for the idea. Ash added that as the person whose shoulders the responsibility for the military’s medical care, he is compelled to take “drastic” action towards alleviating the problem and ensuring a similar or worse situation does not exist in another eight years.

Ash added he has pleased with university leaders to secure a predetermined of seats in schools for IDF cadets, but the call for ‘reverse discrimination” was rejected. He explains a candidate seeking entry to a medical school through the army is at a distinct disadvantage since he cannot improve his bagrut matriculation of psychometric scores.

Ash calls the establishment of a military medical school is a matter of “national interest of the highest order and it must be realized without further delay”.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)