Sanctions by public sector doctors continued today in the hospitals around the country, after the Israel Medical Association (IMA) on Thursday night said the Treasury had refused to discuss upgrading manpower in the hospitals and failed to advance negotiations.

The strike was held today on all medical centers on a reduced “Shabbat schedule” with only urgent and lifesaving operations. On Tuesday and Thursday, only oncological and other urgent surgery will be performed; other departments will function as usual.

On Wednesday, a full strike will be held in the Tel-Aviv and Haifa community health fund clinics of Clalit Health Services. A negotiating session with Treasury wage division officials at IMA headquarters that ended late on Thursday triggered the decision to continue sanctions, which have been held on and off for two months.

IMA chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman said that while the Finance Ministry was willing to talk in principle about ways to promote advancement for doctors, they “spoke only in general, in a way that did not state what they are offering”. As for the issue of the 12.17 percent wage erosion from December 2007 to March 2011, the IMA said it “heard nothing new” from the Treasury.