Israel Medical Association announces 2-hour ‘warning strike’ for Wednesday morning
Medical residents’ organization, nurses’ group, and IDF Medical Corps reserves join in call to take major steps to oppose government’s judicial legislation
Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
The leadership of the Israel Medical Association on Tuesday announced a “warning strike” for the Wednesday morning to protest the impending legislation to curb judicial oversight on the government. The strike will take place from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
The IMA said it will do everything possible to avoid negatively impacting patients’ care. Urgent care will not be curtailed, and critical services such as oncology, dialysis, IVF and scans for pregnant women also will not be affected. Surgeries and procedures beginning or scheduled for before 8:30 a.m. will take place as planned.
As part of the strike, representatives of IMA member organizations and societies will lead informational sessions in hospitals and other healthcare settings on the effects of the legislation on the healthcare system, medicine, physicians, and patients.
The coalition plans to finalize into law next week a highly contentious bill to prevent courts from using the test of “reasonableness” in evaluating decisions made by the cabinet and ministers.
Prof. Hagai Levine, a leader of the White Coats – Healthcare Professionals for Democracy and head of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, said that “the cancellation of judicial reasonableness will result in lethal injury to human life, the healthcare system, the patients, the doctors, and all other healthcare staff. Therefore, the IMA must take steps. This is preventive medicine.”
“It appears that tomorrow there will be a warning strike in the healthcare system, and if the government does not stop [the legislation], we will take more severe steps,” he said.
The IMA issued a position paper on Tuesday afternoon outlining how it believes the removal of judicial reasonable would impact the healthcare system and the rights of patients.
The paper states that without judicial review, the National Health Insurance Law could be implemented in an unreasonable or inequitable manner, hurt a person’s ability to receive medical treatment, impact the updating of drugs and treatments provided, and impact budgeting and the ability for an individual to receive lifesaving drugs and care.
The government would have complete and final say in the allocation of the healthcare budget, without regard for possible resultant injury to patients.
“Without judicial review, it would also be impossible to appeal to the courts on priorities concerning the government’s healthcare allocations and the injury to patients due to the government’s allocation preferences,” the paper said.
Such decisions could be made by government ministers who could make “unworthy, unprofessional and political” appointments, which it would be impossible to contest through the judicial system.
The IMA also warned that without the judicial test of reasonableness, it would be impossible to appeal to the courts concerning the privatization of medicine and the quality of care provided by private entities on behalf of the government.
The IMA also expressed the opinion that the cancellation or reduction of reasonableness could lead to an erosion of the quality of training of medical staff and licensing demands, thus endangering the health and safety of patients.
Following a Sunday meeting of the leadership of Mirsham, the association representing medical residents, it was announced that the trainees will no longer stay out of the fray. The residents are putting aside differences with the IMA to join forces against the proposed legislation.
The organization believes the legislation will hurt the rights of residents individually, collectively, and as a professional organization.
Mirsham is particularly concerned about how the proposed elimination of judicial reasonableness would affect trainees’ longstanding struggle to reduce the length of their shifts from the current 26 hours to 18. There has already been a delay in implementing a plan to gradually reduce the shifts’ length, and the residents are worried that should any future legislation be passed, they would have no legal recourse.
“We call on the IMA to use its organizational power and not sit on the fence during the upcoming critical days,” the residents’ group said.
The Nurses for the Struggle protest group called last Thursday for the Israel Nurses Association to formally announce that it would join forces with the IMA in striking, arguing the proposed legislation would hurt the rights of patients.
“It is our responsibility to stand with patients without bias or discrimination, and to act forcefully for the value of human dignity,” it said.
According to reports in Doctors Only, a Hebrew-language news site for the Israeli medical community, doctors, paramedics, and mental health officers in the active IDF reserves have sent letters to the army’s chief medical officer, Brig. Gen. Prof. Elon Glassberg, saying that they will refuse to appear for duty.
Some of the letters were published in a WhatsApp group of 600 medical professionals in the reserves opposed to the government’s actions. The group has warned the government about the “irreversible damage being caused to the preparedness of the [IDF Medical] Corps” and called for an “immediate halt to the legislation and the repair of ruptures that have been caused [in society].”
Some of the reservists wrote about being morally torn about making their decision, while others expressed no doubts.
“With great sorrow, I am informing you that I will stop my volunteer services in the reserves in light of the ‘regime coup’ in the country,” wrote one physician. “Since immigrating to Israel for Zionist reasons, I have served yearly — in mandatory service, in the reserves, and many years as a volunteer. I am not willing to volunteer for the military of a state that is marching toward non-democracy. If the legislation toward ‘regime coup’ stops, I will be willing to carry out reserve duty as needed.”
Another medical reservist wrote that “in light of the breakdown in talks between the coalition and opposition, and especially the anti-democratic legislation (which must stop immediately), I will no longer volunteer for the reserves… Until there is a significant change in the situation, I will not serve, and I am not at all concerned about the possibility of being sent to military prison.”
Doctors Only also reported that in contrast, a group of doctors calling themselves the Sane Physicians Forum announced that it is opposed to any strike and apologized to the public for what it characterized as “a small and vocal group of our colleagues acting scandalously… and based on disinformation.”
In a WhatsApp statement, it said, “We, hundreds of doctors — most of us IMA members, and some who left it when it began to take a political position — regard with sorrow and shock the threats of IMA leadership to strike and disable the health system.”
“We call for the complete separation of political opinion from professional practice,” the forum said.
Many physicians and other medical professionals have taken part in the pro-democracy and anti-judicial reform protests since they began six months ago.
