Three thousand Israeli physicians in private practice today went on a two-hour sympathy strike in support of more than 2, 000 doctors working for the government and national institutions who yesterday struck to support demands for a wage increase.
Representatives of the medical services of all institutions in this country met at the Ministry of Health today to attempt to work out a formula satisfactory to all parties.
Meanwhile, first aid stations have been converted into field hospitals and have been handling emergency cases. Surgeons supplied by the strikers have been performing emergency operations in hospitals. Ten emergency operations were performed in this city today and the strikers rejected no call on their services.
The average pay of physicians after taxes and other deductions amounts to 240 pounds ($133) a month. The physicians are asking for these increases: A chief physician with 25 years’ experience, 805 pounds per month instead of 380 pounds; a senior physician, 633 pounds, compared with 337 pounds; an assistant physician, 464 pounds instead of 273.
The burial societies reported that “death had taken a holiday” yesterday in Tel Aviv. In this city of more than 200, 000 population, with a normal death rate of 18 per day, not a single death was reported yesterday. As one representative of a burial society put it: “The Angel of Death seems to have joined the striking doctors.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
