Baku, February 13, AZERTAC

Israel is opening three new medical schools to address the country’s shortage of medical personnel, according to The Press Service of Israel (TPS-IL).

One, at the private Reichman University in Herzliya, welcomed its first students ten days ago. Two others, at Haifa University and Weizmann Institute of Science, are to open in October 2025.

“The opening of new medical schools is a significant development that will greatly contribute to the future of Israel’s healthcare system. Increasing the number of medical students will help reduce gaps, strengthen public healthcare, and ensure quality and accessible medical service for every citizen,” the Health Ministry said in a statement, praising the Council for Higher Education that approved the move.

The School of Medicine at Reichman University, which opened on February 2, 2025, enrolls 88 graduate students who already have a BA degree in a four-year program.

Weizmann Institute of Science will accommodate 40 graduate students in the first year of the program. The students will undergo clinical practice in several Israeli hospitals, including Sheba Medical Center, the largest in Israel. They will be eligible for a double degree—Doctor of Medicine and Doctorate in Research (MDPhD).

“The vision is to create a new generation of leading physician-researchers in the field of medicine and biomedical research. These will be professionals capable of identifying urgent clinical challenges, inviting patients to participate in current clinical trials, and planning and conducting innovative studies that will lead to groundbreaking medical solutions, all with the aim of promoting public health,” the Weizmann Institute statement said.

The University of Haifa will accommodate 66 students in the first year and plans to increase enrollment to several dozen students in the coming years. Carmel Medical Center in Haifa will serve as its clinical base. The students will also practice at the medical centers of Clalit Health Services, the largest of Israel’s four state-mandated health service organizations.

“We hope the students will stay in the north after the six years of their studies here,” Roni Malkai, the University’s spokesperson, told TPS-IL.

The shortage of medical personnel is especially acute in the Israeli periphery. “In central Israel, the numbers per capita are close to those in OECD countries, but in the south and the north, they are up to two times lower,” Nadav Davidovich, Chair of the Taub Center Health Policy Program and Director of the School of Public Health at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev explained to TPS-IL.

According to him, Israel currently gets around 1,300 new doctors per year, with a need of around 2,000. The shortage of medical personnel is a result of several factors, one of which is that thousands of doctors who came to Israel with the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s have been retiring.

“The problem is not just the numbers but also the quality of education. Only about 40 percent of practicing doctors in Israel got their diploma in the country,” Davidovich explained. “The rest studied abroad because there are not enough places in Israel, including in countries where education is poor. They often end up in the Israeli periphery, too.”

Establishing new schools is not the only way to address the problem. Israel has also opened programs for physician assistants, who take less time than a full MD, and nurse practitioners (NPs).

According to a report published in Israel Health Policy Research a year ago, the number of physicians per capita in Israel is lower than in the OECD countries—3.1 versus 3.5 per 1,000 population, respectively.

“There is a decrease in the supply of physicians in Israel resulting from the declining flow of immigrant physicians from the former Soviet Union, a large proportion of whom have reached retirement age in recent years. This problem could become worse because the number of medical students in Israel cannot increase quickly, especially because the number of clinical training sites is inadequate. The rapid population growth and anticipated aging will exacerbate the shortage,” the report said.