Hadassah Hospital Opens Cyprus Center Without Government Knowledge
Translated & summarized from Calcalist by baba
The Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem opened a new medical facility in Limassol, Cyprus, without notifying the Israeli Ministries of Health or Finance. Both ministries expressed surprise and concern, emphasizing their oversight role due to Hadassah's reliance on government funding and past financial difficulties. Hadassah claims it is not funding the project, which involves professional collaboration with Cypriot entrepreneurs, and denies any risk to its operations in Israel. Future expansion plans in Cyprus include a larger hospital and healthcare park.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Hadassah Medical Center opened a new facility in Limassol, Cyprus, without informing Israeli government ministries.
- The Ministries of Health and Finance stated they were unaware of the Cyprus initiative.
- Hadassah claims it is not financially involved, providing only professional expertise to the Cypriot-funded project.
- The hospital has a history of financial instability and receives significant government support.
- Future plans include a 46-bed hospital in Nicosia and a larger healthcare park project.
- The initiative follows Hadassah's previous international medical center opened in Moscow.
The Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem recently inaugurated a new medical facility in Limassol, Cyprus, as part of its international expansion plans. However, it has emerged that the decision to proceed with this venture was made without informing the Israeli Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Finance, the two bodies responsible for overseeing the hospital's financial and operational stability. This is despite Hadassah receiving significant government support and the hospital's management warning in December about potential difficulties in paying employee salaries due to cash flow issues.
Both the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance stated they were unaware of the Cyprus initiative and were not consulted. The Ministry of Health emphasized that any new hospital activity, especially off-campus, requires regulatory and economic review to ensure it does not compromise patient care, staffing, or the hospital's financial health. The Ministry of Finance highlighted Hadassah's past financial crises and government aid under a recovery agreement, as well as recent claims of cash flow problems.
While it remains unclear if Hadassah violated any legal requirement for prior approval, the situation reveals a gap between the state's responsibility for the hospital's stability and its awareness of its international business ventures. Hadassah vehemently denies that the Cyprus project endangers the hospital in Israel, stating it has invested no funds and is not financing the center. Instead, it is a professional collaboration with Cypriot entrepreneurs who are funding the facility, while Hadassah provides expertise and clinical standards.
The Limassol center, operational since summer and officially opened on October 15, is an outpatient facility offering diagnostics, consultations, and preventive medicine. Future plans include a 46-bed hospital in Nicosia by 2027 and a larger project, the Hadassah Healthcare Park in Nicosia, which will feature a 156-bed private hospital, a university medical institution, and student housing, with an estimated investment of 150 million euros by Cypriot authorities. Hadassah reiterates its non-involvement in financing these projects.
This is not Hadassah's first international endeavor; a medical center has been operating in Moscow since 2018. The Cyprus initiative dates back to November 2020, when a Cypriot company announced an agreement with Hadassah Medical Ltd. for medical centers in Nicosia and Limassol. Despite approvals within Hadassah and meetings with Cypriot partners in Israel, no formal notification was submitted to Israeli regulators.
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