A group of Soviet Jewish physicians is reconsidering plans to immigrate to Israel due to a new Israeli law requiring all new-immigrant doctors to undergo professional tests before being licensed to practice medicine in this country.
Ephraim Feinblum, chairman of the Association of Immigrants from the Soviet Union in Israel, said he received this news over the phone from Soviet Jewish activists in Moscow. “This amendment will have disastrous consequences for aliya,” he said.
The Health Ministry said some recent immigrant doctors have shown a low professional level, so the tests are necessary. Since 1971, about 3,700 doctors from Eastern Europe have settled in Israel, according to Feinblum.
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