Prof. Hana Leiba has been appointed Dean of the new Eilat medical school, which is due to open this year. She spoke to "Globes" several days after returning to Israel on a ‘rescue’ flight from Laos, where she was leading a delegation of ophthalmological surgeons in a region does not have a single expert in pediatric eye surgery. Back in Israel she is now able to focus her full attention on setting up the new medical school.
Leiba will lead the medical school alongside her other roles at the Clalit Health Fund. She serves, among other things, as head of ARIK, the academic research and innovation center at Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot, which is affiliated with the Hebrew University, and as head of research at Clalit's hospital division.
How is it possible to fulfill all these roles? "I love doing things," she says. "As a mother of three daughters and grandmother of five granddaughters, at first I said - what do I have to do to get to Eilat? But my Zionist spark as a daughter of Holocaust survivors lit up. Coming to Eilat and coming to the State of Israel to develop this city."
"Believe we can develop Yoseftal Hospital"
The private medical school in Eilat is an ambitious initiative by Dr. Moshe Cohen, which many have criticized or simply did not believe would become reality. In his vision, the school will train foreign and Israeli students who would otherwise go abroad to study, so it is a "win-win" situation. On the one hand, keeping more doctors in the country and on the other hand, promoting Eilat and Yoseftal Hospital.
In recent years, after years of stagnation, a series of medical schools have been established in Israel. Due to this, critics have wondered what the need is for a private international institution in Eilat and whether it is capable of bringing in high-level lecturers and raising money to build the necessary infrastructure.
Another claim, on which there is broad agreement, is that Eilat’s Yoseftal Hospital is not currently ready for the academic training of students.
"I can say clearly that Clalit is mobilized for this move and for the promotion of Yoseftal so that it is worthy of the mission. We can say that today Yoseftal is an emergency hospital but not an academic hospital. I believe that we can develop it and also believe in my ability to receive training services for our students from other hospitals."
The initiator Dr. Moshe Cohen: "The start of a change needed for years
Dr. Moshe Cohen, who founded a company to prepare Israeli students for exams and medical studies abroad, conceived the project in different times. Before the war, the idea that students from all Abraham Accords countries would come to study in Israel seemed very reasonable.
As part of her role at Clalit, Leiba is already responsible for the clinical training of medical students who return from studies abroad.
"A large number of them come to Clalit. We know the challenges and their advantages. Sometimes these are students who were not accepted to study in Israel by a point. The more personal connection they have to the country, the more inclined they will be to stay here.
"The war only emphasizes Eilat's need for a medical response. In my vision, developing the faculty in Eilat will also improve medicine in the city, which is the gateway to the world to the south."
100 candidates for 45 places
The medical school will open in the upcoming academic year. As of today, the school says, 15 students have registered, out of 60, and there are about 100 candidates for the 45 remaining places. The studies themselves will take place in the academic building in the city itself, and at the same time the planning and construction processes of the new campus will begin. In addition to the lecturers who will come from Hungary, more than 70 Israeli lecturers have already been hired to teach pre-clinical and clinical studies. "It's a 3-4 hour drive," says Leiba, "you can stay overnight, and there are also plans where each lecturer will come for a week or several concentrated weeks, and the rest of the time the students will be given tasks that they will supervise remotely, with a more independent and research-based approach. There will also be teachers who will teach online, and teachers who will come from the University of Debrecen in Hungary, with whom we have a signed cooperation agreement."
Some claimed that Debrecen cannot provide the appropriate level of teaching.
Leiba laughs. "This is one of the best universities in Europe for studying medicine. It's not pleasant how they were received in Israel. True, it would have been better if one of the universities in Israel had taken on the task. I don't know why each university hates the other."
"To Jump in above the waist is not so healthy"
In order to bring Yoseftal to the required level, Clalit will have to provide more budget. Is it committed to this?
"Yes, Clalit will have to provide budget and release doctors for training, and also for the development of the hospital. The state will also have to help. Eilat Mayor Eli Lankari and Education Minister Yoav Kish supported the project, and I hope they feel that it obliges them.
"I know we are starting in October. Even a great journey begins with one step, and jumping in above the waist is not so healthy. I believe in processes."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 25, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.