Israeli soldiers and medical staff at the underground hospital at the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, on September 22, 2024. (Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Several hospitals in Israel have surpassed their occupancy capacity in recent days.
According to the Jerusalem Post, “Internal medicine departments across the country are over 100% full, and emergency rooms face overcrowding levels of 200% compared to normal days.”
The internal medicine departments that are over capacity include Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, and Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
“Patients are being hospitalized in hallways and, sometimes, even in hospital cafeterias,” the JPost reported. “This has created a situation in emergency rooms where patients often wait for hours – sometimes over 10 – before a bed in an internal medicine ward becomes available.”
The situation is typical for the winter season and has not yet reached the levels of overcrowding during last winter , in which some hospitals reached occupancy rates of 200%.
“Every winter, the same story repeats itself,” one doctor said. “Staffing levels are already critically low, and now some doctors are on reserve military duty, others are sick themselves, or are home taking care of sick children. We have no space to admit patients, and we’re just praying we don’t make mistakes under these impossible conditions.”
Alona Agratchev, director of Nursing for the Internal Medicine Division at Ichilov Medical Center, also spoke to the JPost about the challenges many Israeli hospitals during the winter months.
“We do everything we can to ensure they receive the best care, but the load is immense,” she said. “We have patients in hallways, and it’s emotionally difficult. Seeing an elderly patient in a corridor – she could be my mother or my neighbor. It’s heartbreaking.”
