Jewish doctors warn about erosion of trust

The Australasian Jewish Medical Federation (AJMF) has responded with shock and concern to a video posted on social media showing two Bankstown Hospital nurses expressing antisemitic sentiments.

Federation President for Victoria, Dr Jack Green said the incident, while deeply disturbing, is unfortunately not isolated and forms part of a broader pattern of increasing antisemitism in the health sector over the last 18 months.

“Jewish health professionals have encountered expressions of antisemitic hatred in the workplace and online, including social media, with increasing frequency,” he said. “For Jewish patients, we fear this incident will further erode their trust in our great Australian health system.”

The AJMF would like to see greater enforcement on hateful comments made on social media by health professionals.

Green said there is now a desperate need for more education about tolerance and understanding of all ethnic and religious groups for health care workers. “The cohesive functioning of our multi-cultural health care system and greater Australian society depends on this,” he said.

The Federation said it welcomed the NSW government’s swift action to stand down the workers and investigate the incident, but wants to see “real, practical, ongoing efforts” to stamp out antisemitism.

“We want antisemitism education to be made compulsory in the health sector,” Dr Green said. “A patient’s ethnicity, race or religion should be irrelevant to the delivery of their healthcare.”

He said Jewish Australians had a right to feel safe when engaging with the health system. “The healthcare setting for Jewish medical professionals in places has been difficult, uncomfortable, and I’m sure that Jewish patients, especially since this last incident, have lost trust in the health system,” Green said.

He said Jewish patients want to get health care delivered without concerns about prejudice or harm coming to them.

“We have a profound sense of betrayal that all Australians must feel when two healthcare workers, who are entrusted with the sacred duty of caring for the sick and injured, and nurturing them back to good health, should instead publicly declare their intention to kill some of their patients solely on the basis of their ethnicity or religion”, Green said.