Regional Labor Court directed the striking doctors to immediately resume work

Regional Labor Court in Bat Yam has issued an order at noon on Tuesday, directing the striking doctors in Israel to immediately end their strike and return to work. The court's ruling emphasized that while a two-hour protest strike is within the right to protest, the ongoing strike, which has lasted more than seven hours, has exceeded reasonable limits. The strike was initiated by doctors in the public health system in protest of the legislation repealing the reasonableness clause in the Knesset.

The strike, which began this morning, saw the Medical Association refusing to comply with Health Minister Moshe Arbel's request to end the strike at 1:00 PM. The strike had far-reaching consequences, leading to disruptions in treatments and procedures across all government hospitals, causing distress to patients with pre-arranged appointments.

Despite the court order, the strike did not affect emergency rooms in all hospitals and hospitals in Jerusalem (Sha'ari Zedek, Hadassah, Kfar Shaul, Itanim) and the community clinics in the Jerusalem district. However, most of the institutes and outpatient clinics in hospitals remained closed, with pre-arranged appointments being canceled. Certain critical services, such as treatment for cancer patients, dialysis, and heart institutes, continued to operate normally.

In response to the strike, more than a thousand doctors expressed their interest in relocating to another country. Prof. Hagai Levin, the chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians, condemned the government's actions, stating that the strike was a necessary measure to protect patients' well-being and prevent the degradation of Israel's healthcare system. The doctors' demands centered around the government's violation of the joint contract and its failure to act reasonably in its decisions.

During the strike, doctors followed a Saturday work schedule, with drivers arriving at 07:00 while other doctors were absent. Interns also participated in the strike, except for those called for essential services, such as fighting. Other health professions, such as nursing, imaging institutes, rehabilitation professions, and auxiliary forces, were not involved in the strike.

The strike resulted in the cancellation of elective surgeries and outpatient clinic appointments in hospitals, while the milk drip doctors and health offices also joined the strike. However, certain crucial services continued to operate, including emergency and trauma rooms, labor and delivery rooms, dialysis services for kidney patients, oncological treatments and surgeries for cancer patients, gastro clinics for urgent operations, day treatments, psychiatric day hospitalization, in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, cardiology institutes, and late system reviews for pregnant women. Medical committees of the National Insurance Institute, pregnancy termination committees, and psychiatric committees also remained operational.

With the court's order in place, the focus now turns to how the striking doctors and the government will respond to the ruling and work towards a resolution to the ongoing dispute.