Israeli Arab doctors mull founding Arab-only HMO

Israeli Arab doctors announced on Thursday that they are considering resigning from the Clalit HMO, and establishing a clinical system catering exclusively to the Arab sector. The doctors charged that Clalit operated discriminately by failing to promote Arab doctors to senior positions.
Currently, there is not a single Israeli Arab employed in any of the 84 senior positions at Clalit, including department heads, regional managing doctors and deputy directors. Clalit has some 7,000 Israeli Arab workers and some 800,000 Israeli Arab members.Clalit filled five senior positions on Wednesday: director of the Haifa and western Galilee districts, northern district director, director of the Petah Tikva and Dan districts, director of the southern district and deputy accountant general for the HMO. Arab employees who were expecting to be promoted were once again disappointed to find that not a single Israeli Arab was appointed to any of the positions. The failure to appoint Israeli Arabs sparked rage and frustration, which the employees said had been building for years. "This is discrimination; There's not another word to describe it," said one of the Arab doctors, who maintained anonymity for fear of being dismissed. Read More (Haaretz)