BGU | MY PATH, Haim Doron, MD

We faced a difficult problem since Russia gave three, very different, doctor of medicine degrees: MD; geriatrician; and “hygienic doctor of public health.” a doctor in preventive medicine. We could do very little with such public health doctors. We opened a special program based on my previous experience in absorbing doctors from Latin America. It consisted, first of all, on attaining Hebrew mastery in intensive ulpan; afterwards courses to familiarize the doctors with the Israeli health system; and then a year of hands-on experience. In this manner, some 20,000 doctors were absorbed out of one million immigrants from the former Soviet Union who made aliyah in the early 1990s! This period was marked by receipt of countless distraught phone calls from immigrant physicians: “I’m, a doctor and I’m sweeping streets for a living” or “I’m unemployed” and so forth -- that needed to be addressed as best as possible. 171 The School of Health Professions at Tel Aviv University One night when I was on sabbatical in San Francisco, I received a telephone call at 3:00 AM from the dean of Tel-Aviv University (TAU), Prof. Oded Sperling. Sperling explained to me (still half- asleep) that he was interested in establishing a school for health professions at his university, and various individuals had suggested he turn to me to head it. I told him that I was focused on dedicating my work to health policy, and not this subject. If he needed an immediate answer, my answer was “no,” but when I got back to Israel, we could discuss the matter so I could evaluate what was involved. When I did return to Israel, I learned that between 1968-1985, four study programs had been established in the Faculty of Medicine at TAU: nursing, communications disorders, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy. The driving forces behind these departments were Prof. M. Rubinstein in communication disorders, who today is head of the audiology institute at Sheba Hospital; Prof. R. Rozen in physiotherapy and occupational therapy; and Prof. Rivka Bergman, a pioneer in academization of nursing in Israel, for whom I had the utmost respect. I also had great respect for such departments because in an era of chronic diseases, collaboration between medicine and these professions is critical. This was the primary reason I looked favorably on the offer. It resonated with my belief in teamwork. A physician working together with other health professionals, mainly the nurse, was essential in primary medicine. Therefore, I embarked on negotiations with Tel Aviv University’s people, and in the end accepted the position to establish the new school within the Faculty of Medicine. Once a week I would commute between Tel Aviv University and Beer Sheva to take forward the topic I most wanted to address – health policy. I established the center for health policy in the Negev, and for a time, even lectured in a course in health management in Beer Sheva. The first thing I did at Tel Aviv University was to banish the terminology I opposed: I felt the term in parlance at the time, “paramedical professions,” conveyed that these professions served medicine in some way. But the term “health professions” conveyed the correct status of these professions in the health system, all the more so in the rehabilitative realm. I set down for myself the requisites for establishing a school of health professions. First and foremost, its organizational structure, founding standards, and of course, building its budget. Temporarily, we housed the faculty of occupational therapy in the dentistry building. I knew from the outset that the already crowded physical plant of Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Medicine was not suitable for these subjects; and I invested all my powers and prowess in obtaining backing for construction of a new building for the School of Health Professions. After

171 Nurit Nirel and Baruch Rozen “Ha-Migamot b-Ha’asakat Rof’im b-Edan shel Yisum Chok Bituach Bri’ut Mamlachti” (Trends in Employment of Doctors in an Era of Implementation of the National Health Insurance Law) Bitachon Sotzi’ali, March 2004, No. 65, pp. 55-83.

103