Are you a Jewish doctor? Then Israel wants you

The number of doctors per capita is severely declining, according to a Health Ministry report to be released Wednesday.

By the end of 2008 there were 3.5 doctors under age 65 per 1,000 people, as opposed to 3.7 per 1,000 at the end of 2000, the report states.

In 2008, only 606 people received new licenses to practice medicine, as opposed to 898 in 2000, according to the report.

Over the past five years, 50 percent of new doctors were graduates of Israeli medical schools, as opposed to only one-third in 2000. This reflects the decline in the number of doctors settling in Israel from abroad.

The number of licenses given to doctors of Eastern European origin, which has been on the decline since the 1990s, has now dipped even more precipitously.

A recent Haaretz report on Jewish Agency efforts to bring in Jewish doctors from abroad stated that the Agency asked the Health Ministry to make the licensing exam easier for doctors from abroad.

As a partial response to the lack of doctors, the latest Economic Arrangements Law included a provision allowing nurses to write prescriptions under certain circumstances.

At the end of 2008, there were 33,051 doctors in Israel - one physician for every 223 Israelis. Half were specialists.

The decline in doctors is mainly among younger doctors, up to the age of 44. At the end of 2008, Israel had 9,171 doctors in this age group. About one-third were new immigrants.

The Health Ministry reports that since 2000, there has been an increase in the number of specialists in family medicine, internal medicine, oncology, infectious diseases, medical genetics, rehabilitation medicine and emergency medicine. The number of anesthesiologists and general surgeons has remained stable.

However, there are fewer specialists in clinical chemistry, pediatric allergies, clinical microbiology, medical administration, pediatric clinical immunology and forensic medicine - the latter has lacked new residents for years.

According to the report, Israel places 15th when ranked among the 27 European Union countries, with 347 doctors per 100,000 people. Greece topped this list, with 535 doctors per 100,000, while Poland was at the bottom, with 203 per 100,000.

However in terms of numbers of dentists, Israel, with 108 dentists per 100,000, placed second after Greece, while Romania placed last with 20 dentists per 100,000.

Last year, there was a decrease in the number of newly licensed women physicians. At the end of 2008, women comprised 43 percent of all new physicians, as opposed to 49 percent in 2006 and 2007. Currently, 40 percent of doctors in Israel are women, and 35 percent of specialists are female.

Women are a slight majority in fields that have less demanding hours, such as family medicine (55 percent), medical genetics (53 percent), and anatomy and pathology (54 percent). However, women constitute 65 percent of child psychiatrists.

The report also states that the number of nurses is in decline compared to the European average. Israel gained 1,108 new nurses in 2008, compared to 1,837 in 2000 - a 40-percent decrease.

The Finance Ministry began offering scholarships last year for people seeking to retrain as nurses.