Visiting researchers, doctors to be encouraged to come on aliya

Absorption Ministry to present a plan on Thursday to 200 Jewish physicians from abroad.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
jose cohen 298.88 (photo credit: Hadassah)
jose cohen 298.88
(photo credit: Hadassah)
The Absorption Ministry will present a plan on Thursday to 200 Jewish physicians from abroad aimed at encouraging them and others to immigrate to Israel, work in medical institutions and conduct research. Each doctor who comes on aliya will get NIS 250,000 per year, over a period of three years, for working in a hospital and a special NIS 50,000 grant for doing medical research. Although currently there is a general surplus of physicians, a shortage is expected to develop within the next decade due to the retirement of thousands of physicians. Some 17,000 doctors came on aliya, mostly from the former Soviet Union, since 1989, and 11,000 of them passed the Health Ministry's licensing procedure. Despite the surplus of doctors, there remain shortages, some severe, in a variety of fields including anesthesiology, geriatrics, internal medicine and pathology, and in development towns and outlying areas. The program will be presented at the 18th International Conference of Jewish Physicians, organized by the Israel Medical Association (IMA) and the World Fellowship (which aims to strengthen ties of Jewish physicians around the world). It will be held Thursday through Sunday at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem. The 200 Diaspora physicians will be joined by 500 Israeli counterparts to hear lectures on dozens of new medical research projects and studies, including some related to medicine during the Holocaust, Jewish medical ethics, robotics in medicine and biotechnology. Vice Premier Shimon Peres and IMA chairman Dr. Yoram Blachar will be among the speakers. The foreign participants will meet with Israeli doctors and researchers in their respective fields. Foreign participants in the conference will be able to get up-to-date information about aliya, licensing in medical and paramedical professions, recognition of specialties and help in finding work. According to the Absorption Ministry, participants in the research program will be chosen according to the excellence of their work by a Health Ministry team with expertise in medical research.