Over 2,500 medical interns quit en masse amid labor dispute

Despite a compromise proposal put forth yesterday, 2,590 medical interns submit their letters of resignation to the Health Ministry.

The interns have been protesting over conditions that see them working 26-hour shifts. Ministers had suggested a deal that would see their shifts reduced to 18 hours by 2026, but it was immediately rejected by representatives of the doctors-in-training, who said it did not go nearly far enough.

The resignation of the interns is expected to take effect in two weeks.

In a letter to Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announcing their resignation, the interns write that their desire to provide basic medical care to patients “should not be our personal interest only, but largely the interest of the government of Israel, to ensure that those who arrive at hospitals in Israel… will receive treatment from doctors who are not exhausted, tired and unfocused.”