"It's going to be long, but we hope it won't be too painful," is how Ministry of Finance Director of Wages Ilan Levin described the doctors' strike, now entering its second week, to "Globes" today. He presented very wide differences with the Israel Medical Association in the negotiations, which are due to resume tonight, after a hiatus of several days.
Levin said that he rejects the structure proposed by the Ministry of Health to award the doctors a pay hike of 1.8% a year, the increase won by public sector employees. The Ministry of Health also proposes that doctors working the periphery and specialists in professions where there are shortages receive much larger pay raises.
"Why shouldn’t specialists in central Israel contribute part of their salaries to specialists or doctors in the periphery?" asked Levin.
The Ministry of Finance proposes that doctors receive a uniform 1% pay hike per year for 5-8 years. The ministry is also prepared to increase payments for specialists' duty shifts, and to improve the salaries of specialists in professions where there are shortages and doctors who work in the periphery.
However, there are also gaps with the Israel Medical Assocation on the issue of the periphery: Levin is only prepared to pay special compensation to doctors who work full time in the periphery, and only if they live there and do not commute from central Israel.
"I want to compensate doctors who are available all the time in the periphery throughout their lives," said Levin. "I am willing to pay them more, and grant housing loans to anyone who moves to the periphery."
Levin criticized the Ministry of Health for previously conceding control of specialists to a scientific committee of the Israel Medical Association. Levin says that this concession created the shortage of some kinds of specialists, mostly in fields where there is no private practice.
"Can you imagine a top Air Force pilot choosing for himself what to specialize in and what base to serve at?" asked Levin. "I want the Ministry of Health to direct specialists to particular professions and to particular areas, such as the periphery."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 11, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011