Prime Minister Yair Lapid decided that the preparations for shortening medical intern shifts to 16 hours will begin in the periphery immediately, according to Maariv.
Lapid concluded with Economy Minister Orna Barbibai and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz that preparations will begin so that the agreed-upon outline can come into effect by September 2023. As part of the evaluations, hospitals all over the country that are already legally prepared will be able to operate and shorten the shifts.
"The shifts of the interns are insane, their conditions for making life and death decisions are impossible. I promised that we will do everything to shorten the shifts, we will harness the health insurance funds and the hospitals with us. The interns have been taking care of us and treating us for many years, it is time for us to take care of you again, this is a first step for the evaluations and I thank Dr. Ray for the answers and the joint work," Lapid said in a statement.
"The shifts of the interns are insane, their conditions for making life and death decisions are impossible. I promised that we will do everything to shorten the shifts, we will harness the health insurance funds and the hospitals with us. The interns have been taking care of us and treating us for many years, it is time for us to take care of you again, this is a first step for the evaluations and I thank Dr. Ray for the answers and the joint work."
Prime Minister Yair Lapid
"I welcome the intervention of the Prime Minister in favor of shortening the shifts of the interns," Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz added. "The allocation of resources and the standards, which were agreed upon about a year ago, are necessary for the actual start of the move. After the long struggle I waged for the shortening of shifts, and at the end of professional and responsible staff work led by the Ministry of Health, it is possible and necessary to start immediately."
Over 500 Israeli medical interns and residents resigned last month in protest of the Health Ministry delaying a plan to shorten their shifts from 26 to 16 hours, the Mirsham medical residents organization said.
In a press conference held last month, Mirsham representatives said that "the government is single-handedly leading Israel to the largest medical crisis in its history."
"the government is single-handedly leading Israel to the largest medical crisis in its history."
Mirsham representatives
"You think the reform will lead to medical professionals leaving their jobs but this logic only ignored the real issue," they said. "People are leaving because they are unhappy, the toll this profession takes is insufferable."
A year-long struggle
In a nationwide protest last year, Israeli medical staff took to the streets to protest their working conditions. Following the rejection of a shift plan proposed by the Health Ministry, some 2,500 medical residents, students and interns announced their temporary resignations.
The plan to gradually shorten shifts was supposed to take effect months ago in 10 hospitals in the periphery of the country.
Further implementation across Israel was vague, and residents in big-city hospitals in the country’s center protested that they were being excluded.