December 31, 2023 – American Friends of Rambam Medical Center and Rambam Health Care Campus, are pleased to announce a $100,000 grant from The David Berg Foundation towards the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital.

This life-saving grant will support Rambam Health Care Campus as the designated care provider for all soldiers and civilians injured in wartime in the Northern region.  Shortly after October 7, the hospital’s underground parking lot was converted into the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital and became ready for use with 1,400 beds in case of a mass casualty situation.

The Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital

Designed based on lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War when 60 rockets fell within a half mile radius of Rambam, this three level 1,500-vehicle underground parking lot converts to a 2,000-bed hospital within 72 hours. The facility is not just serving Northern Israel in times of extreme emergency, such as war, or natural disasters, it also solves medical crises when mass isolation is called for. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it became the largest COVID-19 treatment facility in Israel, with the capacity of treating hundreds of patient simultaneously.

When missile attacks intensify and target the Haifa area, patients in the above-ground hospital will be brought to the Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital through an underground tunnel system. The entire facility will be equipped with emergency care medical equipment to treat acute and trauma-related injuries. Patients who require urgent and life-saving surgery will be operated in fortified surgical suites.

The secure ICU in the Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital includes ICU beds for critically ill or injured patients who are too unstable to be transferred to other departments.

Rambam is a 1,100 bed hospital, the major tertiary (referral) medical center for all of Northern Israel, serving more than 2.5 million residents and others referred from all over Israel. Our strategic location near Israel’s volatile northern borders has made Rambam a vital national security resource. We are home to the only Level 1 trauma center in the North, and we treat more trauma patients than any other hospital in the country, with outstanding results.

More information can be found about The David Berg Foundation.