Israel calling Australian doctors
Around 70-75doctors attended the Melbourne session, with 25 in Sydney, representing 'a pretty serious level of interest' from Australian medical professionals going to Israel
Australian-born Dr Debra Gershov West, head of emergency medicine at Assuta Ashdod Hospital, has just visited Australia to encourage Australian doctors to make aliyah as Israel faces an unprecedented medical workforce crisis.
Around 79-75 doctors attended the Melbourne session, with 25 in Sydney, representing what Gershov West described as “a pretty serious level of interest from medical professionals in leaving Australia and going to Israel, which we wouldn’t have seen in the past”.
The director of the Frontline Emergency Medicine Project, who was here on behalf of Nefesh b’Nefesh, said Israel will lose 50 per cent of its incoming doctors from 2026 following a crackdown on substandard overseas medical schools.
She was in Australia on behalf of the International Medical Aliyah Program, which is an initiative of Israel’s Ministry of Health, Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, Ministry of the Negev and Galil, and Nefesh B’Nefesh in partnership with the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Israel currently has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios in the OECD. The situation worsened after a 2019 review found that half the international medical programs where Israelis study were below standard.
“Fifty per cent of the doctors … in Israel are Israelis who have studied medicine overseas, often in less reputable or less qualified medical schools,” Gershov West said.
Following the review, authorities ruled that from 2026, “we are no longer accepting medical students from these medical schools. So we knew that next year, in 2026 we are going to have 50 per cent fewer doctors coming through every year.”
Australian doctors are particularly sought after for their approach to patient care.
“When we study medicine in Australia we do it instinctively, but we’re very much taught how to communicate, how to talk to the patient, how to listen to a patient,” Gershov West said.
She emphasised that the doctors showing interest are long-standing Zionists.
“These are people who are deeply Zionistic. They didn’t just discover in the last year that they’re Zionistic.”
But she added, “The push points had to be stronger than the pull force of staying.”
Nefesh b’Nefesh aims to bring 2000 medical professionals to Israel from around the world.
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