Hundreds of citizens on Friday visited a tent set up by doctors in front of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem in protest against doctors' minimal benefits and poor work conditions. Medical association officials are preparing an appeal to Netanyahu bearing the signatures of thousands of doctors and other citizens. The appeals calls on Netanyahu to intervene in the ongoing conflict between the doctors and the Finance Ministry and to end the crisis. Israeli doctors have been carrying out a prolonged, sporadic strike movement since April. President Shimon Peres is scheduled to meet Sunday with Eidelman and other protest leaders. The doctors will explain the dire state of public health to Peres and detail proposed solutions to rehabilitate the system and improve doctors' work conditions throughout the country. According to Israel Medical Association data, physicians base pay is a mere NIS 26 ($7.50) per hour, while specialists earn just NIS 42 ($12), excluding overtime and shifts. Also on Sunday, thousands of doctors are set to protest at the Garden of Roses in Jerusalem, with protesters calling on the prime minister to intervene immediately and put an end to the crisis by providing solutions to the health system's predicament. On Friday, Eidelman felt ill and required medical attention. He refused to be taken to a hospital, and carried on his hunger strike after being treated on site in his tent. "I will continue with my hunger strike until there will be a solution, or I will collapse," Eidelman, who on Friday explained that he was waiting for a call from the prime minister, said. "The prime minister can solve the remaining disagreements. The gaps are not so wide and only he can close them and end the crisis. Unfortunately, Netanyahu is choosing to stay on the sidelines." Finance Ministry and medical association officials are set to meet again on Sunday, as agreed upon during negotiations on Thursday, which ended in a stalemate. The officials are expected to divide into small groups to tackle the issues that are still unresolved. Continuing its unilateral steps of protest, the association instructed hospitals throughout the country to strike on Sunday. Hospitals will operate in limited "Sabbath day" mode with scaled-down numbers of employees working each shift. In addition, some surgical operations will be canceled, and medical clinics, institutes, and day care centers will be not accept new patients. On Sunday and Wednesday only oncological and emergency surgical operations will be performed. On Tuesday and Thursday, medical clinics, institutes, and day care centers in all hospitals will join the strike, but surgeries will continue as normal.
The visitors showed their support for Dr. Leonid Eidelman, chairman of the Israel Medical Association, who began a hunger strike seven days ago to draw attention to his cause. Among the visitors were MK Amir Peretz (Labor) and Noam Shalit, whose son Gilad Shalit has been held captive by Hamas since 2006. The Shalit family has their own tent set up across from Netanyahu's house in a bid to persuade the government to take every possible action to free their son.
