Medical residents threaten to resign
Hundreds of residents hold Tel Aviv protest rally, say wage signed between Israeli Medical Association, Treasury fails to meet their demands
Hundreds of medical residents rallied in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening in protest of the wage agreement signed between the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) and the Treasury last week.
The residents said that the new deal fails to meet their demands and threatened to submit the letters of resignation they had deposited with a third party in July, as part of their protest measures.
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Gilad Alon, head of the Medical Students' Union in Tel Aviv University, told Ynet that the residents were "not angry with the IMA – just disappointed.
"The medical students fought alongside the residents for our future. We believed that we could save the health system," he said.
The rally (Photo: Yaron Brener)
"We're not angry with the IMA, but they were out of their league. The demand for a change (in the health system) should come from the public as a whole," he continued. "We are proud to be part of a generation that will not sell itself short. We will not become a part of such a dismissive system," he said.
'Residents have alternatives'
Ben Arzi, representing the medical residents at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, said: "The historic agreement signed between the IMA and the Treasury is nothing but a mirage and it will do nothing for the health system in Israel. That is not speculation – that is fact.
"The public health system needs us more than we need it," he added. "We want to be doctors, but we don’t have to be doctors – we have alternatives. We're walking out."
Dr. Yona Weissbuch, a resident at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, added: "We've all considered resigning and if 1,000 residents have come to the conclusion that the current situation cannot go on – then it's time for Benjamin Netanyahu to listen.
"On Sunday, when our resignation takes effect, the health system will plunge into catastrophe. We urge the prime minister to demonstrate responsibility. Stop hurting Israelis' health."
Faced with the possibility that hundreds of residents will quit come Sunday, the State Prosecutor's Office has informed the Supreme Court that such a mass measure is illegal.
A brief filed by the State Prosecutor's Office with the Supreme Court said that "a mass resignation constitutes a stark deviation from the legitimate tools exercised within the framework of proper working relations and will prove detrimental to the public."
Aviad Glickman contributed to this report
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