JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The number of doctors spending at least a year outside Israel has nearly doubled over the past decade, according to a new Tel Aviv University study reported by Israel Hayom.
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About 1,370 doctors spent at least a year abroad between 2023 and 2025, a 94% increase from the comparable period a decade earlier, according to the study.
The study found that 416 doctors left Israel for at least a year in 2023, followed by 530 in 2024 and an estimated 419 in 2025. By comparison, 705 doctors left the country between 2013 and 2015.
Researchers said the figures raise particular concern because an increasing share of those leaving are experienced physicians. Between 2023 and 2025, 281 doctors age 45 and older spent at least a year abroad, accounting for about 20% of all those who left. A decade earlier, the figure was about 14%.
Among doctors under 60, the highest departure rate was recorded in ophthalmology, dermatology and ear, nose and throat medicine, at 9.4%. Surgeons followed at 8.8%, while pediatricians recorded a departure rate of 6.4%.
The study also found that 188 surgeons left during the three-year period, representing 6% of all surgeons in Israel. Among internists, 215 left, or 3.9%, while 94 pediatricians, or 6.2%, spent at least a year abroad.
The Tel Aviv District recorded the largest number of departures, with 429 doctors leaving between 2023 and 2025. The Central District recorded 290, followed by Haifa with 190, Jerusalem with 132 and the Southern District with 125.
Even after accounting for doctors who returned to Israel, the country recorded a net loss of 509 doctors in 2023 and 2024, an average of about 255 per year. That compares with an annual average net loss of 54 doctors between 2010 and 2019.
The research was conducted by Tel Aviv University professors Itai Ater and Nittai Bergman and doctoral student Doron Zamir, using official data from the Population Registry, education registry and Health Ministry database of medical licenses.
Researchers cautioned that spending a year abroad does not necessarily mean a doctor has permanently emigrated. Many physicians leave for fellowships, advanced training or research and later return to Israel.
Still, the researchers warned that the growing number of experienced doctors spending extended periods abroad could have a significant effect on Israel’s health care system, including medical care and the training of future physicians.
Prof. Ater said the departure of nearly 1,400 doctors could lead to longer waiting times and reduced quality of medical care, warning that if the trend continues, it could cause what researchers described as “irreversible damage to Israel’s resilience.”
Easy fix: instead of giving medical school admission preferences to arabs and Kaplan Street faggs, invest medical education resources into those who are unlikely to sell out — i.e. the nationalistic Israelis who are proud Jews.
Better yet, bypass the Israeli chiloni medical establishment and allow opening a few medical schools graduating a few hundred doctors a year in Yehuda and Shomron.
Are there doctors coming in?
They aren’t getting paid much
That is the predictable outcome of a socialised Medical system. When doctors cannot make more than the Government decides, they move to the US where they can make far more money.