The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance announced today that the license for building the second hospital in Beersheva would be awarded to the two smallest health funds: Leumit and Meuhedet. Sheba Medical Center will operate the hospital for the funds.
The decision is precedent setting in several ways. As far as the health funds are concerned, this is the first public hospital that will be held by the small health funds (Clalit has many hospitals, including Soroka in Beersheva, while Maccabi has the Assuta chain).
For Sheba Medical Center, this is a significant step in spreading beyond its main campus in Ramat Gan. The Ministry of Finance did not want to set up another government hospital financed from the state budget and with workers who would be state employees. It was therefore decided that Leumit and Meuhedet would contract with the government to construct the hospital, and then with Sheba to operate it, so that the hospital will not be a government institution.
The decision by the ministries is expected to be confirmed by the government within the next few weeks. The target date for opening the hospital is 2028, although sources in the health sector say that 2030-2032 is a more realistic target. Various sources put the cost of building the hospital at between NIS 1 billion and NIS 3 billion. The annual budget for running it is estimated at NIS 1.5-3 billion.
The decision to build a second hospital in Beersheva was made in 2014. A name for it, Peres Hospital, and a site, were already determined at the time. It will be built on a 1,000 dunam site close to the Sarah interchange west of the city that connects roads 25 and 40. It will have 1,900 beds, which will make it the larger than any existing hospital in Israel (Ichilov in Tel Aviv and Sheba both have 1,500 beds), but it will reach that number in stages. The original target date for opening it was 2025.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 18, 2024.
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