Israeli medical schools—Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the Ben-Gurion Faculty of Health Sciences (BGU), and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology’s Rappaport Faculty of Medicine—will no longer accept American or Canadian students. A physician shortage in Israel led to this decision by the Israeli government, along with the large number of Israelis unable to gain admittance to medical school domestically. The Class of 2026, which includes students who matriculated this fall, will be the last to include American and Canadian students.
The decision comes as a shock to the international community as the Israeli medical schools have a long history of educating foreign students; Tel Aviv University’s Sackler has graduated foreign doctors for over 40 years, BGU for 30, and the Technion for about 20. Tel Aviv University’s executive dean, Dr. Stephen Lazar, wrote to the school’s foreign medical students, “It is with the deepest regret that I must inform you that the Israeli government has directed all foreign medical programs, including American medical programs, to stop accepting new students,” he wrote. “This political decision was made in order to increase the availability of seats in Israeli medical schools for the Hebrew programs, so that many Israeli students will not have to travel abroad for their medical education. TAU president Ariel Porat and dean Ehud Grossman have assured us that enrolled students, including the class of 2026, entering this week, will be permitted to complete their medical studies.”
Both the former and current presidents of BGU, Professors Rivka Carmi and Daniel Chamovitz, noted their disappointment, while also pointing to the need for Israel to focus on its own physician supply—only about 900 Israeli students per year attend domestic medical schools. Chamovitz put it succinctly, “There was no choice. We need more Israelis to study medicine here. Those who worked in our international school will teach Israelis instead of foreigners. Nothing will change,” he said. Carmi pointed out that among OECD countries, the average proportion of doctors is 3.4 per 1,000. In Israel the average falls below that, at 3.1, and in some parts of the country, it is 2.7.
In addition to the low number of Israeli-educated doctors, the physician shortage has been amplified by mass retirements from Soviet-born doctors who immigrated to Israel, and to some extent the pharmaceutical, health technology, and other high-paying private businesses that lure physicians away from clinical practice. Most North American medical students who studied in Israel returned home post-graduation.