P.M Lapid: shifts of 16 hours for specialist doctors will start in the periphery immediately

The long struggle of the specialist doctors is bearing fruit: Prime Minister Yair Lapid has decided that the preparation to shorten specialist shifts to 16 hours will begin in the periphery immediately.
The chairman of the organization of specialized doctors and the leader of the struggle, Dr. Ray Beaton, announced the withdrawal of the letters of resignation. "We have made a great achievement," said Dr. Beaton. "We have not finished the struggle. But as of now, we have reached a situation where the letters of resignation can be withdrawn."
The preparation will begin so that the agreed outline can come into effect by September 2023. As part of the preparation, hospitals all over the country, which have already been prepared legally, will be able to operate and shorten the shifts. Lapid concluded with Economy Minister Orna Barbiei and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz the beginning of preparations and promotion of the allocation of the necessary resources for the issue, and at the end of a meeting with the Director General of the Prime Minister's Office Naama Shultz and a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister from Berlin, Dr. Beaton agreed to withdraw the letters of resignation and return to regular work .
The Director General of the Prime Minister's Office sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance in which she requested to transfer the budget for shortening the shifts. The letter was accompanied by the opinion of the ombudsman stating that there is no obstacle to transferring the money, therefore NIS 66 million must be transferred to the hospitals. This is after all along the Ministry of Finance claimed that they could not transfer the money because of the elections and legal matters.
At the same time, Minister Barbiei sent the hospital managers a letter supplementing the new employment permit she signed. In the letter, the minister clarified that there is no obstacle to shortening the shifts already now for those who can. The minister asked to extend the shortening of shifts to hospitals in the center as well.
"The shifts of the interns are insane, their conditions for making life and death decisions are impossible," said Lapid. "I promised that we will do everything to shorten the times, we will harness the health funds and the hospitals with us. The interns have been taking care of us and taking care of us for many years, it's time for us to take care of you again."
Health Minister Horowitz: "I welcome the Prime Minister's intervention in favor of shortening the shifts of the interns. 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 the shifts, and at the end of professional and responsible staff work led by the Ministry of Health, it is possible and necessary Get going right away."
At a press conference held in Jerusalem by Dr. Beaton, she said: "There is no doubt that today we took a significant step towards the start of the implementation of the shortening of shifts. The personal involvement of Prime Minister Yair Lapid and the director general of the ministry Naama Shultz made the breakthrough possible and we thank them for that.
"Now that it has been clarified that there is no legal impediment and by order of the Prime Minister, we expect the Ministry of Finance to transfer the agreed budget immediately to start the process," she added. "This is also an opportunity to thank the Minister of Health Nitzan Horvitz and the Minister of the Economy Orna Barbibai who stood by us the whole way. The shortening of shifts has been achieved and we will continue to work so that it will be implemented as soon as possible in every hospital in the country for the interns and for the entire public in Israel."
 Not everyone supports the initiative. The Chairman of the Medical Association, Prof. Zion Hagai, said that "Prime Minister Lapid and Minister of Economy Barbibai have issued a death sentence on public medicine in the periphery. Instead of strengthening the interns, they strengthen the strong and deal a fatal blow to the already weak."
According to Prof. Hagai, "the handful of departments in the center of the country that will be able to afford to shorten shifts before September 2023 and without a dedicated government budget will only widen the gaps and cause the young doctors not to reach the periphery." He said that "already today the hospitals in the periphery are experiencing great difficulty in recruiting new doctors, and this difficulty will only get worse following the 'voluntary model' proposed by Barbibai and Lapid. This permit that will serve the same handful of departments in the hospitals in the center is a bad and irresponsible outline, which is completely filled with political motives short term".
Dr. Beaton responded to this by saying: "It is not clear how a labor organization works against its own workers. Calling this achievement a catastrophe is one of the saddest things I've read. Those who tried to thwart the shortening of shifts will do everything to thwart the move. I believe we will win because there is no other choice."
At the beginning of last month, the Minister of Economy signed a new employment permit for interns, which postpones the shortening of shifts by a year and a half from last April, the original date given in the Minister's previous permit. The new permit stated that the shortening of shifts, from 26 hours to 16 to 18 hours, in the first phase in ten hospitals in the periphery and in selected professions - will be postponed until next September. This follows a petition from the General Health Insurance Fund and the opposition of the Ministry of Finance to the budgeting of shortening the shifts, and due to the opposition of the Medical Association to the implementation of the shortening at this stage.
As a result, about 200 interns submitted letters of resignation and some of them even started a hunger strike. "The shifts are unbearable," one of the interns explained her decision to go on hunger strike. "The mental, physical and family price we pay is unimaginable."