From the front lines to the exam room: Doctors face hurdles caused by IDF reserves duty

Over 100 Israeli medical residents sent a letter to the regional labor court this week saying that the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) is harming resident doctors who served in IDF reserve duty by failing to provide adequate wartime accommodations for this year’s resident exams.

This failure hurts not only doctors, but also public health as it worsens Israel’s shortage of doctors by preventing the residents from advancing in their certifications, said Israel’s medical residents organization, Mirsham.

The letter joins a petition to the court, submitted in February by Mirsham, which asked the court to force the IMA to provide proper accommodation. This followed a number of other attempts by Mirsham to get proper accommodations, said the organization, including appeals to the Health Ministry and relevant Knesset committees, which they say did not yield a satisfactory resolution.

Residents must pass a series of yearly exams in order to complete their residency and move forward in their medical careers. The tests are taken in accordance with the number of years that the residents have practiced. They not only establish the authorized procedures for Israel’s resident doctors, but also influence their remuneration. The tests are administered by Israel’s Scientific Council, which is part of the IMA.

The exams were pushed back from their regular schedule by the Israel-Hamas war. The IMA offered some changes to the format and timing of the exam, including allowing doctors to sit for some of the examinations twice and instructing the departments responsible for the exams to consider reducing some of the material. However, according to Mirsham, the changes offered are not effective and, in some cases, cause greater harm to the residents who served in reserves.

Approximately 25% of the residents scheduled to take the test this year were on reserve duty during the war, Mirsham estimated in November. Some of them are testing for their second specialty in fields that are already understaffed, said the organization, adding that their inability to pass these exams will make the shortage even greater.

“We didn’t think twice” about leaving our homes on October 7, read the letter that residents sent to the court this week. “We did not hesitate; we served for weeks and months in the heart of Gaza, the north, and the West Bank. We treated thousands of soldiers injured in combat zones, in maneuvers with combat forces, wherever we were needed.”

These doctors were sure that they would be given consideration when they returned to their training but “reality slapped them in the face” when they realized this was not happening, they said.

Only 'lip service'

 The doctors described the accommodations as little more than lip service. The solutions offered were “for show and nothing more,” they said.

“The medical residents who joined the war effort and did reserve duty were abandoned and are being punished for their service to the country,” said Mirsham.

Mirsham’s petition suggested numerous solutions and accommodations, the organization said. However, too much time has passed for their effective implementation, and the only solution still relevant is grading residents who were in reserves or whose partners were in reserves on a curve and granting paid vacation before exams.

“We don’t have a time machine that would give the residents more time to study,” said Naama Cohen, Mirsham’s CEO, who added that the residents are not looking for a big curve or expecting that those who are close to failing would pass.

Normally, doctors spend about six months studying for their resident exams, and they go on special shift rotations so that they can study. Some residents released from reserve duty have already been told they will be called back in the summer, further complicating the situation.

Some residents sat for one of the exams offered last week. The leadup to the exam, following so closely on their reserve duty, put the doctors in a terrible situation, explained Cohen.

“The doctors have seen terrible things; some have flashbacks” to their time in the reserves, she explained. However, due to a shortage of study time before the exams, numerous doctors had to transition straight from reserve duty to intense study, focusing solely on passing their exams with no time for acclimatization to civilian life.

“Instead of thanking them and appreciating and strengthening them, they felt abandoned and alone in this war,” said Mirsham. “They felt they were hurt because they went to save lives.”