Doctors strike at Hadassah averted

Management at Jerusalem’s Hadassah University Medical Center averted a doctors strike called for Sunday by receiving a labor court injunction on Saturday preventing the walkout, the hospital spokesperson announced.

Hospital management called on patients to remain updated regarding strike activity through the media, urging them “not to cancel their arrival to Hadassah on the basis of the doctors’ announcements.”

Attempting to avert the strike action, director general of Hadassah Medical Organization, Prof. Zeev Rotshtein, issued a personal request to the hospital’s doctors to avoid participating in the “unnecessary strike” and not to “contribute to the harm caused to Hadassah’s important patients.”

“There is no strike at Hadassah tomorrow. The public is invited to receive medical treatment as usual and according to the schedule set for it... In light of the Ministry of Health’s request to Hadassah doctors to return and not to strike tomorrow for an illegal strike that could harm patients, the Hadassah administration appealed to the Labor Court yesterday for an injunction against the strike,” according to a Hadassah statement.

“The judge ruled that until the hearing on the subject on Sunday, there would be no strike by Hadassah doctors. Hadassah patients are invited to receive medical services at the hospital as usual and according to the schedule set for them.

“Prof. Rotshtein again makes a personal request to doctors to remove the unnecessary strike from the agenda,” the statement continued. “Rotshtein also notes that in any case, he can not spend money that is not part of the budget, and without implementing the agreements agreed upon with the medical committees, there is no way to reduce the manpower of doctors, nurses and administrative and hospital staff.”

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman also called on the doctors to return to work, with the Health Ministry warning that a strike during the busy winter months is likely to harm sick patients.