Health Ministry opens up 300 new nursing positions to cover those called up to war

Renee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.

Medical staff arrange a makeshift emergency underground hospital in the parking lot of the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa in northern Israel, on October 12, 2023. (Thomas COEX / AFP)
Medical staff arrange a makeshift emergency underground hospital in the parking lot of the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa in northern Israel, on October 12, 2023. (Thomas COEX / AFP)

The Health Ministry opens 300 new positions for nurses at hospitals around the country, especially for surgery and intensive care services. The nurses — hired for a minimum of five months — will fill in for nurses who have been called to emergency military service. Other nurses have been unable to get to work because their life partners have been called up, or because they must stay at home with their children, due to school closures.

The Health Ministry has budgeted NIS 35 million ($9 million) for this effort and has already screened 600 nurses who have applied for the positions. The nursing staff will be boosted at all hospitals, especially in those near the northern and southern borders.

The effort to fill open nursing positions during the war is part of a plan to boost emergency preparedness. As part of this, the Health Ministry has instructed that nurses may be asked to work 12-hour shifts, rather than the usual 8 hours.

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