Hundreds of imaging technicians working in Israel, including many with years of experience, have been dismissed in the past year following the full implementation of the “Imaging Law,” which aims to regulate the profession through government licensing.
The law, which came into effect in 2024, effectively revokes recognition of degrees obtained from institutions in the Palestinian Authority, and was applied retroactively to employees already working in the health care system. As a result, many imaging technicians who worked in hospitals and imaging centers have lost their jobs, and some are not even eligible to complete requirements necessary to attain a license.
Imaging is a central component of modern medicine, serving as the basis for critical decisions. It has steadily increased in use, with the number of MRI scans in Israel jumping from approximately 250,000 per year to over half a million within a decade. The number of CT scans has also risen significantly and more than 1.3 million scans are performed annually today. Imaging technicians operate under heavy workloads, and in Health Ministry’s surveys, the profession consistently ranks among the most demanding in the medical system.
Approximately 2,700 imaging technicians are currently registered with Health Ministry with an estimated 85-90 percent of them working in the profession. According to various estimates, at least a third of them were trained outside Israel, primarily at institutions in Jenin, Nablus, East Jerusalem, and Jordan. For years, graduates of these institutions were able to work in the Israeli health care system as their degrees were recognized by the Education Ministry.
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From 2003, imaging technicians were not required to have government licenses. But in 2016, following pressure from Radiographer and Imaging Workers’ Union (affiliated with the Israel Medical Association) an amendment to the Medical Professions Regulation Act was advanced. New regulations requiring technicians to have government licenses were published in August 2023 and fully came into effect a year later. In order to be licensed, practitioners must have an academic degree in medical imaging from a recognized institution, have completed practical training, and passed government exams. It was also stipulated that working in the field without a license is a criminal offense, and employing an unlicensed imaging technician could lead to imprisonment and fines – for both the employee and the institution.
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‘There are imaging technicians who are already working – let them be tested in the profession, no matter where they studied. Whoever doesn’t pass the exam won’t get a license. The new law doesn’t even allow them to take the exam.’
Firas Mansour
Many Arab imaging technicians studied at academic institutions no longer recognized by Israeli authorities. They have worked for many years in the system, but now, with the application of the new regulations, they are not eligible to continue working. While the regulations make some provisions for those already working in the field, these are limited. An imaging technician trained at an unrecognized institution is entitled to an automatic license only if they have worked in a full-time position for the three years preceding the law’s publication. But many imaging technicians split their work among several institutions or are employed as external workers, and therefore do not meet this requirement. This has led to a wave of dismissals of imaging technicians from the Arab community.
The law imposes additional restrictions that limit employment opportunities for imaging technicians and the flexibility of the imaging system: Imaging technicians who have only worked in the community (at health maintenance organizations and imaging centers) can now only continue working in the community – and not in hospitals. Technicians can now only work with only one type of device (such as ultrasound, X-ray, or MRI), contrary to the previously accepted practice that allowed them to work with several different devices.
Imaging technicians who had worked between six months and three years before the law’s publication did have the option of completing 1,290 hours of practical training and passing a licensing exam but the period in which they could do so ended in August 2025. Those who had studied in unrecognized institutions and did not meet these requirements had no option to obtain a license at all. Those most affected by the new rules are imaging technicians who studied at universities in Jenin, Nablus, or East Jerusalem and have suddenly found that their academic degrees are no longer recognized.
‘An imaging technician working 40 hours a week will earn 6,000 shekels ($2,000) a month, which is why imaging technicians work many overtime hours. To earn well, you really have to ‘live’ in the hospital, which has made the profession unattractive.’
Salim Bader
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Imaging technicians operate under heavy workloads, and in Health Ministry’s surveys, the profession consistently ranks among the most demanding in the medical system. Credit: Healthy Definition / Shutterstock.com
Imaging technicians operate under heavy workloads, and in Health Ministry’s surveys, the profession consistently ranks among the most demanding in the medical system. Credit: Healthy Definition / Shutterstock.com
“We welcomed the move to regulate the profession,” says Firas Mansour, who has worked as a medical imaging technician for 25 years. “Until 2003, you would finish your studies, take an exam, and get a license from the Health Ministry. But then the Health Ministry canceled the need for a license (following a petition to the High Court of Justice). People started studying in all sorts of places. Most of the Arab population studying the profession turned to institutions in the PA, where they can complete a four-year bachelor’s degree in medical imaging which follows an American program,” Mansour says. “In Israel, the studies are different. The academic degree that an imaging technician receives is defined as a degree in humanities and natural sciences, but ultimately, what all imaging technicians have in common is that they know how to perform X-ray scans.”
Mansour, like other imaging technicians, supports the establishment of threshold requirements to maintain professionalism and the quality of service provided to patients. But he criticizes the way the Health Ministry has implemented the regulations: “You created an interim generation. There are imaging technicians who are already working – let them be tested in the profession, no matter where they studied. Whoever doesn’t pass the exam won’t get a license. The new law doesn’t even allow them to take the exam,” he says.
Mansour has involuntarily become a kind of representative for imaging technicians affected by the new law. He says he runs a WhatsApp group of about 500 imaging technicians who have been affected in one way or another by the new regulations. “This has affected medical institutions across the country. Anyone who worked in a public hospital and did not meet the new criteria has been dismissed. I’m talking about at least 120 people. Many have also been dismissed from imaging institutes in the community,” he says.
A., 25, completed his studies at the Arab American University in Jenin. Since he completed his studies less than six months before the law was enacted, he is not eligible for a completion track or a licensing exam.
T. (full name withheld) is a medical imaging technician who worked for two years half-time at a public hospital, from which he has now been dismissed, and half-time at a medical imaging center in the community run by the Mar company. “My work at the hospital was defined as half-time, but in practice, I worked more than a full-time position, including shifts and on-call duties in the operating room,” says T. He is allowed to continue working as an imaging technician, but only after passing a professional exam – and afterward, he will only be permitted to work in at imaging centers in the community and only with X-ray machines. For a 29-year-old man at the beginning of his career, this is a severe blow.
A., 25, completed his studies at the Arab American University in Jenin in March 2023, worked at an imaging center run by Mar, and later at Assuta Ashdod Hospital. In November 2025, he received a dismissal letter. Since he completed his studies less than six months before the law was enacted, he is not eligible for a completion track or a licensing exam. A. filed an appeal with the Health Ministry against the decision – and it was rejected. This means his studies were in vain, and with them, the career he had planned.
Imaging technicians are not the only ones affected by the law: the health care system itself, particularly community imaging institutes and hospitals in the periphery, now suffer from a shortage of personnel in the imaging field.
‘The patient looses’
Dr. Nicky Liebermann, the medical director of the Mor Medical Institute run by the Clalit health maintenance organization says the law has reduced the number of imaging technicians at Mor’s imaging centers by 15 to 25 percent. “We had many imaging technicians who did not meet the criteria. Some completed training and were able to apply for licenses but, others have a problem. It creates a huge gap.”
According to him, the shortage is greater in the ultrasound and CT fields leading to a demand for higher salaries which means it’s more difficult to expand patient services. “Ultimately, as usual, the patient is affected in the end.” Lieberman agrees that the field not properly regulated, but in his opinion, “there was some politics here. The institutions that were disqualified were not marginal schools in Italy, France, or the United States – but in other places,” he claims, referring to the decision to revoke recognition of degrees from institutions in the PA.
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Dr. Nicky Liebermann, the medical director of the Mor Medical Institute. Credit: Mor Medical Institute
Dr. Nicky Liebermann, the medical director of the Mor Medical Institute.Credit: Mor Medical Institute
Salim Bader, the chief imaging technician at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, is well acquainted with the issue. In addition to his role as director of the imaging department at Israel’s largest hospital, Bader also manages the National Center for Continuing Education in Imaging and chairs the forum for chief imaging technicians at the Health Ministry. He is also a member of the appeals committee established under the Imaging Law, to which imaging technicians who do not meet the threshold requirements can apply.
He says that by 2018, Sheba had employed 27 imaging technicians who had graduated from the Arab American University in Jenin, after the Education Ministry recognized their degrees. After 2018, significant professional gaps began to emerge. “There are two main problems with the curricula at these universities (Nablus, Jenin, and others). Firstly, their syllabuses do not match ours and secondly they don’t do enough practical hours.” While the law requires 1,290 hours of practical experience, Bader claims that some graduates arrive with only about 400 hours.
But Bader admits that the law also harmed experienced employees. Between 2003 and 2023, many imaging technicians who studied at institutions in Palestinian Authority areas were absorbed into the Israeli health care system and became an essential part of the workforce in the field. Even if their practical experience upon graduation was relatively meager, they were trained and gained extensive practical experience in the field, but this is barely noted. “There are many people who fall through the cracks.”
According to him, technicians who are employed as external workers or in split positions are not entitled to recognition, even though there are large numbers of them. Conversion programs for academics also aren’t a possibility – because the academic degrees are no longer recognized. “These people sustained the health care system in Israel. The new law shortchanged them and shuffled the cards.”
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Salim Bader, the chief imaging technician at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. Credit: Joy Cohen/Sheba
Salim Bader, the chief imaging technician at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer.Credit: Joy Cohen/Sheba
Bader says that the appeals committee, of which he is a member, also lacks sufficient flexibility. “I have no room to change anything, even if a person approaches me who is short by only two or three months, I have no authority do anything – even though two months has no professional significance. I think there is room to show more flexibility with people who have already worked in the system.”
Although it is a critical role and a field at the core of clinical decision-making, the professional status of imaging technicians is low, and the profession does not appeal to many. “The profession is not presented correctly and therefore it is not adequately compensated,” says Bader. “An imaging technician working 40 hours a week will earn 6,000 shekels ($2,000) a month, which is why imaging technicians work many overtime hours. To earn well, you really have to ‘live’ in the hospital, which has made the profession unattractive.”
For years, the Arab population was a central source of personnel in the field. Many chose to study at universities in the Palestinian Authority because admission requirements were more lenient and did not require a psychometric exam. These institutions supplied the health care system with approximately 100 to 150 new imaging technicians each year.
‘The purpose of the law was to regulate a critical and sensitive profession that was unregulated. At the same time, we understand that one step too many was taken here. It was not done maliciously.’
Health Ministry official Raising the status
Arieh Hershkovitz, chairman of the Radiographer and Imaging Workers’ Union, who was one of the main proponents of the legislation, defends the law. “We are the locomotive of the medical world, and I am proud that I, through the association, championed the advancement of the law. Without us, the Health Ministry would not have introduced the regulations.” According to him, the law’s purpose is to raise the professional level and status of the profession. “On the one hand, I would like the number of imaging technicians to increase, but on the other hand, whoever put them to work when they were not qualified – committed a crime,” Hershkovitz claims.
But he does not take a clear stance on veteran imaging technicians whose degrees are no longer recognized and who are not allowed to complete their training. “Decisions regarding who is eligible and who deserves to receive a license were discussed in various committees, and if the regulations are to be changed – it must be done at the Health Ministry,” he says.
Following numerous inquiries and pressure, including from Knesset members from Arab parties, the Health Ministry began to re-examine some of the law’s requirements. A ministry sourced said “The purpose of the law was to regulate a critical and sensitive profession that was unregulated. At the same time, we understand that one step too many was taken here. It was not done maliciously.” According to him, discussions are underway to examine easing some parts of the law and expanding the powers of the appeals committee. He rejects claims of political motives, discrimination, or racism against Arab imaging technicians.
MK Ahmad Tibi (Ta’al), who is working to change the regulations, claims they have harmed hundreds of experienced employees. “In principle, we are in favor of regulating health professions, including imaging. But the Health Ministry’s regulations are draconian and have led to the dismissal of veteran X-ray technicians from their workplaces despite the fact that they have worked for many years.” Tibi believes this is an injustice and that “the intentions of the X-ray department at the Health Ministry were to distance graduates of Palestinian universities and punish them retroactively.” He says he is promoting a bill to rectify the situation and has met with the Health Minister and the director general of the Health Ministry on the matter.
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MK Ahmad Tibi, left, in the Knesset. Credit: Oren Ben Hakoon
MK Ahmad Tibi, left, in the Knesset. Credit: Oren Ben Hakoon
The Health Ministry said: “The legislation for imaging technicians within the framework of health professions was intended to regulate the medical imaging profession in Israel for the first time, and established conditions for obtaining a medical imaging technician certificate including an academic degree, practical training, and passing professional exams. The technological and professional advancements in the field necessitated the establishment of professional standards for working in the field.
“At the same time, the Ministry is consistently working to increase the workforce in medical imaging, and in the last four years, four academic programs and two professional conversion programs have been opened. The Ministry is attentive to the claims and gaps that have arisen from the field following the implementation of the law, and is continuously examining the implications and challenges for some of those working in the field. As part of this, possible steps and changes are being examined that will allow greater flexibility in the requirements set for an interim period, while maintaining the required professional standards.