Assuta is set to begin building a new hospital in Rishon Lezion in the Eleph district near Moshe Dayan station. Assuta will invest $400 million in the new hospital, which is scheduled to replace the nearby smaller hospital, in 2024.
The new 27,000 square meter hospital, which will be three times the size of the existing hospital, will be on land which Assuta purchased for NIS 40 million in 2014, after it won the tender to build the city's new medical center.
Assuta is the country's largest chain of private hospitals and is fully owned by Maccabi Health Services, although operates as a separate unit. Assuta has four hospitals in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon Lezion and Beersheva as well as the hospital in Ashdod as part of a public-private partnership. Assuta also has smaller medical centers in central Tel Aviv, Ashdod and Ra'anana.
Assuta is not required to publish financial figures and the last data available is from 2016 when revenue was NIS 1.5 million but since then there has been a dramatic increase in operations. Since 2017, the Ministry of Health has restricted private medicine but allows privately owned hospital like Assuta to have a major slice of the services provided by the country's health funds. 90% of appointments and procedures at Assuta hospitals are paid for by the health funds. But Assuta is entitled not to operate non-profitable departments including accident and emergency departments.
Assuta CEO Gidi Leshetz said that the financing for the new hospital in Rishon Lezion will come from the chain's existing resources and there will be no need to raise external sources of capital or seek additional investment from Maccabi Health Services. He said, "We are excited to build a new hospital in Israel especially in a year like this when we understand even more how important a health infrastructure is for Israel's national strength."
He added, "We are now expanding our hospital in Haifa and building a new hospital in Beersheva, which is also due to be completed in 2024. The groundworks will begin in another month. We see the existing gaps and Assuta is interested in providing more services to the north and the south through its resources to close these gaps."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 31, 2021
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