1,369 doctors emigrated from Israel within two years... Medical departments face an increasing shortage

Tel Aviv - Ofoq News - A survey conducted by the Israeli Medical Association showed that 50 doctors left hospitals in Israel and immigrated abroad during the 15 months following the events of October 7, 2023, while other data revealed that 1,369 doctors left Israel during the period between 2023 and 2025, amid warnings of the repercussions of immigration on the health system.

According to the poll presented today, Monday, during a conference on the emigration of doctors from Israel, 14 of the 50 doctors left the Ichilov and Beilinson hospitals, and the hospitals also reported 53 doctors who traveled abroad to perform delicate medical specialties and did not return on time.

The survey was based on reports from hospital administrations only, and did not include community health care doctors.

A study conducted by Tel Aviv University, based on data from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics regarding all doctors who have licenses to practice the profession, showed that 1,369 doctors left Israel between 2023 and 2025 for at least a year, noting that the data for 2025 are estimates.

This number represents a 94% increase compared to the 705 doctors who left between 2013 and 2015. The study also showed that about 20% of the doctors who left were aged 45 years or over, compared to 14% during the previous decade.

Psychiatry is one of the most affected specialties

Psychiatry emerged among the specialties most affected by the migration of doctors, as Vice President of the Israeli Medical Association and President of the Psychiatric Association, Dr. Marina Kupchik, said that four female doctors left the hospital where she worked during the past year, three of whom specialized in child psychiatry, and the fourth in adult psychiatry.

She explained that one of them moved to New Zealand, another to the Netherlands, while two female doctors moved to the United States.

She added that most of the psychiatrists who leave are young people, with an average number of three children.

Kupchik said that New Zealand, Australia and Britain are attractive destinations for psychiatrists, because they do not need to re-specialize there, while the procedures seem more complicated in the United States and Canada.

She added that some doctors who moved abroad continue to work with patients in Israel via the Internet, through agreements with health insurance funds, noting that providing remote treatment allows them to continue working without having to return to Israel.

“When you have these agreements and they get a good income, they have no reason to come back,” she said.

Security conditions, children’s future, and exhaustion

Kubchik pointed out that economic considerations come at the bottom of the list of reasons for psychiatrists leaving, explaining that the main reasons include security conditions, anxiety about the future of children, work pressure and exhaustion, in addition to the search for opportunities for professional development.

She added that psychiatrists in Israel are currently not primarily looking for administrative positions, but rather for specialization in areas such as eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, instead of working in closed departments that include about 40 patients and impose large workloads.

She pointed out that working conditions in other countries are better, explaining that salaries in Britain are lower, but working conditions are different, as doctors work four days a week and this is considered full time.

She said that the shortage of medical personnel in the field of psychiatry existed even before October 7, but it worsened after that with the significant increase in the number of people seeking psychological assistance, including doctors themselves, which she considered one of the reasons for departure.

She added that some psychiatrists do not migrate abroad, but rather leave the public health sector for the private sector due to work pressure, exhaustion, and low wages.

The United States and Europe are the top destinations

The head of the Israeli Medical Association, Professor Zion Hagai, said that the world suffers from a shortage estimated at two to six million doctors, which leads to the continued transfer of doctors from less developed countries to Western countries, especially the United States and Europe.

He added that the Israeli doctor is wanted around the world.

Hagai explained that the survey was sent to the administrations of 36 general, psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals, of which 32 responded. The most prominent immigration destinations included the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and Germany.

In addition to psychiatry, the affected specialties included internal medicine, surgery, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology, and oncology.

According to the survey, the main reasons for leaving were the security and political conditions inside Israel, professional advancement, improved wages and working conditions, as well as personal reasons.

In the Tel Aviv University study, the highest rates of departure were recorded among doctors in the specialties of ear, nose, throat, skin, and eyes, as 9.4% of doctors under the age of sixty in these specialties left Israel.

Doctors travel to specialize and do not return

11 medical institutions reported doctors who extended their subspecialty period abroad beyond the scheduled date. About two-thirds of the 53 doctors who did not return on time came from two large hospitals: Ichilov, from which 20 doctors left, and Sheba, from which 15 doctors left.

Ichilov Hospital appears in both categories, whether among doctors who immigrated abroad or those who have not returned after completing their subspecialties.

The head of the State Doctors Organization, Dr. Zeev Feldman, said that between 70 and 100 doctors out of about two thousand resident doctors travel annually to perform precise specializations in the best medical centers in the world.

He explained that they are supposed to return to the health system, engage in management, and contribute to maintaining its position in the fields of research, innovation and technology.

He added that their failure to return would harm the health system in the medium and long term, warning also of the high percentage of doctors aged 45 years and over among those leaving, including heads of departments and units who are supposed to train the next generation of medical students and resident doctors.

Migration of oncologists and talent attraction

Professor Ido Wolf, representative of the Israeli National Academy of Scientific Medicine, said that the doctors who are leaving are among the highest caliber in their specialties.

He explained that between six and ten oncology doctors immigrated from Israel and have not returned yet, despite obtaining jobs and permanent residency cards in the United States, and some of them received offers to take over the management of medical institutes or units inside Israel.

He added that these represent some of the strongest medical competencies that Israel possesses, noting that personal conversations with them reveal concerns related to personal security, children’s education, and questions about where they will return to.

For her part, the head of the Medical Professions Licensing Department in the Israeli Ministry of Health, Dr. Orly Greenfield, said that the Ministry is recording a significant increase in requests to obtain certificates of good conduct required before traveling to perform specialized specializations abroad.

She explained that some doctors who submit these requests do not travel in the end, but she confirmed that there has been an increase in the number of requests.

She added that doctors who actually want to return to Israel should be identified and focused on, stressing the importance of intervening before they travel to perform subspecialties and during their time abroad, and maintaining professional communication with them.

Forum to confront the migration of doctors

Hagai said that the Israeli Medical Association intends to create a special forum on the issue of doctors’ immigration from Israel.

He added: "We see this as a strategic danger to the State of Israel. The forum will work to study the causes of immigration, collect information from all relevant parties, and formulate solutions to prevent the immigration of doctors and return immigrant doctors to the country. I hope that we will work on this mission and succeed in it."