Following last summer's protest by medical residents and other physicians, some of whom were not satisfied with the long-term pact brokered between the Israel Medical Association and the government, medical interns and medical school students at the end of their studies are now taking steps to organize their own labor organization. They are calling it "Asli," a Hebrew acronym for "Medical Interns in Israel."

Interns are considered an important part of the personnel that staff hospitals, but because they are not yet at a stage in their training when they are considered physicians, they are not regular members of the Israel Medical Association.

By signing up about half of Israel's interns as members, Asli has achieved official status according to labor laws. The status means that the group is recognized as officially speaking for the country's interns.

Last week Asli's chairman, Elad Ben-Artzi, officially notified the entities that employ the country's interns - the state, the Clalit health maintenance organization and Hadassah and Ichilov hospitals - that the organization will be speaking for the interns. He also asked that a meeting be set up with the employers to discuss the full range of employment terms that apply to the interns.

There are about 600 interns in Israel, working at a number of the country's hospitals. They work as interns for a year during their seventh year of medical school. The year is divided between rotations that they are required to do, in specialties such as internal medicine, pediatrics, emergency medicine and surgery, and elective specialties.

Follow this link:
Medical interns form their own union