Government Hospital Doctors Average 772,000 Shekels a Year, Finance Ministry Study Finds

A new study by the Finance Ministry’s chief economist, based on 2023 data, says doctors at Israel’s state hospitals earn an average of 772,000 shekels a year, or about 64,000 shekels a month. Roughly one third of that income comes from private sources and two thirds from public funding.

The highest-paid specialty is plastic surgery, with an average labor cost of about 1.1 million shekels a year, or 92,000 shekels a month. Plastic surgeons also have the largest private-income share. Other specialties topping 1 million shekels a year are dermatology, chest and heart medicine, and anesthesiology. Anesthesiologists are unusual because most of their income comes from public sources, with more than 800,000 shekels a year on average, rather than private practice.

At the bottom of the list are psychiatrists, internal medicine doctors and neurologists. Within internal medicine, there are major gaps between subspecialties, with cardiologists earning about 800,000 shekels a year and endocrinologists about 500,000 shekels, or 42,000 shekels a month. Doctors in Israel’s periphery earn about 10% more than those in the center, because they are offered higher pay.

The ministry says a significant part of doctors’ public income comes from research funds, which keep them in hospitals in the afternoon and sometimes add amounts close to their regular salary. In theory, that should improve availability in emergencies at the expense of private medicine, but the ministry said the findings raise doubts about how well that goal is being met, at least as reflected in pay data. The study suggests the ministry may soon consider abolishing or limiting research funds.