Israel‘s Medical Association began a 24-hour strike on Tuesday, after the Netanyahu-led coalition passed a controversial bill revoking the Supreme Court‘s authority to overturn government decisions deemed unreasonable on Monday afternoon.
As a result of the strike, hospitals across Israel are operating in „Shabbat mode,“ or on a weekend schedule, which includes emergency care only.
The Israel Medical Association has announced it will hold a 24-hour strike starting tomorrow, in response to the passage of the reasonableness law.
The Israel Medical Association calls for physicians to head to Jerusalem tomorrow for a march and “healing the rupture in the nation” rally. The professional organization urges Israeli leaders from all sides to come together for talks to bring the country out of the current crisis.
Participants are instructed to arrive at the Chord Bridge at the entrance to the capital at 11:45 a.m., to prepare for a march to the nearby International Convention Center.
(15 July 2023)
On Friday they were joined by the Israel Medical Association, which warned that hospitals and doctors could strike in opposition to the bill.
The association held emergency discussions Thursday to discuss the ramifications of the law and members agreed that “it will devastate the healthcare system and is not just a theoretical concern,” said IMA Chairman Prof. Zion Hagay.
(13 July 2023)
Over a thousand doctors on Thursday penned a letter to the union’s chair, Zion Hagay, urging him to declare a strike until the “complete trashing of the overhaul,” charging that the plans will harm “the quality of medicine in Israel, will harm patients, and undermine the great achievements of Israeli medicine.”
“We are not ready to turn into the intellectuals, scientists, and educated of Germany in 1933,” the letter read, likening potential consequences of the overhaul to the Nazis’ purge of intellectuals during their rise to power.