Israeli hospitals said to be preparing for potential prolonged war with Iran

The Israeli health system is preparing for an emergency situation in case of a prolonged war with Iran, according to Hebrew news media reports.

The ministry is considering reducing internal medicine departments, which have hospitalized patients who can be transferred to their homes, so that there will be fewer patients in the hospitals.

There is also the possibility of the transfer of doctors from the center of the country, where there are more professionals in relation to the size of the population, to hospitals in the periphery.

Also, Assuta Ramat HaHayal has built and readied an underground hospital in Tel Aviv that can accommodate 200 hospital beds, responding to a request by the Health Ministry to be prepared in an emergency, according to Channel 12 news.

The new underground hospital will receive patients from public hospitals that are not sufficiently protected.

The hospital also has a support system and a complete system of protected operating rooms above ground to receive patients transferred from other hospitals for long and complex surgeries if necessary.

During last June’s 12-day war with Iran, a ballistic missile struck the Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba, causing damage but not injuries.