340 medical residents today exercised their threat and resigned. Resignations include 104 residents at Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) in Tel Aviv; 77 residents at Rambam Medical Center and 18 residents at Bnei Zion Hospital in Haifa; 71 residents at Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba; and seven residents at Assaf Harofeh Hospital in Rishon LeZion. Rambam's emergency room and Meir Hospital's maternity ward are on the verge of collapse. Sources inform ''Globes'' that, in some cases, specialists have refused to take the place of residents in the wards.
At a press conference in Tel Aviv this morning, the residents announced their resignations following the failure of negotiations with the Ministry of Finance. Last night's talks between ministry officials and representatives of residents of Rambam, Sourasky, and Sheba Medical Center Tel Hashomer ended without results, when the ministry refused to budge from its offer of a "package deal" without breaking the agreement with the Israel Medical Association.
The residents are demanding a pay raise of NIS 7,000 per month, and abolishing the clause in the agreement that requires residents in central Israel to carry out several duty shifts. The residents are furious that the Ministry of Finance is only offering a pay raise in exchange for extending the agreement with the Medical Association.
Rambam resident Dr. Oren Feldman opened the press conference by saying that the agreement signed between the Israel Medical Association and the Ministry of Finance was "a trick". The residents called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene and said that they would speak only with him, and not with the Ministry of Finance.
"After humiliating and trampling the social workers, [Director of Wages] Ilan Levin has turned on the doctors," said a resident, who called Levin a "thug". He added, "We've made the greatest sacrifice - we decided to resign today. We ask the President of the Court not to issue injunctions. Ilan Levin and the government have brought us to this pass - Levin should take responsibility. In a country where thugs do not honor agreements, everyone does what they feel like."
Deputy Minister of Finance Yitzhak Cohen lambasted the residents, saying, "We hear only silence from the hospitals in the periphery, which has let the cat out of the bag. Hospital managers and residents in central Israel have lost their morality… All they want is money, money, money, so the responsibility for the harm to patients belongs to the people who chose to abandon them in order to extort more money."
The Prime Minister's Bureau asked the residents to postpone their resignations for two weeks, while Netanyahu tries to solve the problem.
Rambam orthopedics ward director Dr. Doron Norman told “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal), "We're on the brink of catastrophe… I advise people not to go to hospital. The Ministry of Finance looks at Excel files, but we treat people. People will be hurt and die."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 10, 2011
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