According to a recently-released report, healthcare officials are growing increasingly concerned over the critical shortage of physicians and nurses in Israel.

According to the report, only 606 news licenses were issued for doctors in all of 2008, explaining some of the factors include a sharp reduction in aliyah coupled with the fact that “many top minds” are leaving for careers abroad, where salaries and conditions are superior.

The report adds that relative to the population growth, the number of nurses per citizen continues to decline as compared to EU nations.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)