Residents protesting at Sheba Hospital
Photo: Yaron Brener
Hundreds more residents handed in their resignations Sunday, effectively joining the 1,000 who already resigned at the end of last week. Joining the residents were also 100 specialists from Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
Senior doctors at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba have also signed resignation letters, but they are so far being kept in a safe until a final decision is made on the matter.
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Dozens of residents working at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba did likewise. "We are not achieving our aims in the manner in which we have struggled up until now," said Dr. Y, one of the residents who signed a letter of resignation.
Other residents at hospitals throughout Israel plan to follow suit.
The resignations will come into effect in one month. Along with a preexisting lack of doctors, assumptions are that the move will paralyze Israel's medical system entirely.
Central to the doctors' battle is the matter of their wages. Though the Finance Ministry has agreed to add an additional 1,000 doctors' positions, residents say they will not man these positions unless they are paid at least NIS 50 ($14.19) an hour.
But Medical Association Chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman warned residents not to strike without the support of the IMA, as their actions would then be indefensible in a court of law.
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