“Mendelovich Committee” – the committee for the implementation of the outline for shortening the shifts of interns headed by Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Health Dr. Sefi Mendelovich – crashed. Signed by Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, who also said in response that the “outline is binding,” despite the failures and “holes” that exist in it. Who refused to sign it, but also issued at the same time a separate report pointing out the failures in the outline. Out of the 24 members of the original steering committee, only 10 members agreed to sign the report, half of whom are members of the Ministry of Health.
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Among other things, the outline does not solve two major issues that angered the interns: the first is the salary that will be cut in the abbreviated outline and the second concerns weekend shifts. The problem of the expected reduction in interns’ salaries – they will work less – was solved by Mendelovich by claiming that the committee was not authorized to address this issue. At the same time, the Deputy Commissioner of Wages issued a circular, in which a wage reduction was determined for interns who would participate in the outline.
In addition, since the outline is based on non-existent manpower additions (there are no unemployed doctors in Israel), this means that the interns who will participate in the outline will have to work almost every weekend. This is under the principle that a doctor must not work 24 hours a day. This section provoked much anger, and the committee decided to solve the problem by allowing the intern to work 24 hours a day – contrary to the guiding principle.
On the basis of Horowitz’s outline, it was determined that the daily working hours for the doctor performing shifts in the inpatient wards will be shortened to a format of 16 working hours + two hours for the purpose of transferring shifts. In this format, the doctor on duty will start his work at 16:00 and finish at 8:00 the next day, or at 10:00 after the shift transfer. This is a shortening of 8 hours. In addition, Horowitz’s outline is “thin” and affects only a very small proportion of interns: it will start only in the periphery and for only 300 interns (out of 8,500 – less than 4% of them).
“Unfortunately, we are forced to withdraw from the report, after it became clear to us that the conclusions and recommendations arising from it do not match the professional facts and data presented by the Ministry of Health to the joint professional staff, and do not reflect the positions and comments expressed in the discussions.” Hari. “Over the past month, we have tried to come up with a short working day outline that will not harm doctors, their well-being, training and employment conditions,” they write. According to the RAI, there are not enough interns to implement the outline and in addition, “disappointment over the non-implementation of the model will cause unrest and dizziness in the health system.”
The Ministry of Finance also opposed Horowitz’s model, explaining in the ministry’s position paper that it “is not feasible in the long run, does not guarantee a shortening of shifts in the relevant departments, and even leads to damage to the health system and interns themselves.” “. They add that “the goal seems to have been marked in advance, regardless of the data, facts and situation on the ground. When one ignores the factual analysis and bases a model on hopes and aspirations – it will be difficult to achieve the goal.”