Hadassah Ein Kerem has 13 new operating rooms to smile about

The first of the new surgical theaters will function in February.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Man lying in a hospital bed at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem [illustrative]. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Man lying in a hospital bed at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem [illustrative].
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
After several years of financial strife, sanctions and leadership problems, the Hadassah Medical Organization had a reason to smile on Sunday, with the opening of 13 ultramodern surgical theaters in the Davidson Tower in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem.
Costing some NIS 100 million in construction work that began eight years ago, the operating rooms on the -4 floor of the tower have luminous metallic walls for utmost sterility, and equipment hanging from the ceiling. They range from 55 square meters to 83 square meters in size, depending on their use, and have computer screens, special lighting and uncluttered floors.
A hybrid surgical theater allows to perform x-rays and obtain CT images on the spot so doctors can find out what needs to be performed in the operation. The first of the new surgical theaters will function in February.
At a festive ceremony held in the foyer of the medical center, a changing of the guard was marked, with outgoing Sheba Medical Center director-general Prof Zeev Rotstein about to take over as HMO director-general from Prof. Tamar Peretz, and Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America national president Marcie Natan being replaced by Ellen Hershkin; all four of them were present at the ceremony, as was Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, former HMO director-general Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef and two of his predecessors, Prof. Shmuel Penchas and Prof. Avi Yisraeli, Ein Kerem director Prof. Yoram Weiss and Shaare Zedek Medical Center director-general Prof. Jonathan Halevy.
The old operating rooms in the campus opened in 1961 will continue to be used, mostly for day surgery and as an improved location for ophthalmological surgery.
Rotstein said he was proud that the bombproof facilities are among the most advanced in the world and that the “new Hadassah was turning to the public with openness and modesty,” and open to all.