Netanya Hospital Builds Underground ER to Shelter 74 Patients

Laniado Hospital in Netanya, Israel, is breaking ground on a new emergency facility designed to keep critical care running during missile strikes.

The $77 million project includes a sheltered emergency hospital with 74 treatment and hospitalization beds. This capacity is more than triple the current 22 beds in the hospital's existing emergency department. The new ground floor unit will operate year-round and include triage areas, an acute care unit, a trauma center, and advanced radiology equipment. Directly above this unit, a protected surgical complex will contain 10 operating rooms built to function during wartime.

The hospital serves more than 500,000 residents in Netanya and the Sharon region. It was founded by Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam, a Holocaust survivor who lost his wife and 11 children. He vowed to build a hospital that treats everyone regardless of background. The institution opened 50 years ago. The ER currently handles about 100,000 patient visits each year.

Patients in intensive care or under anesthesia cannot run to distant shelters when sirens sound. Moving unstable patients is medically difficult and logistically complex. The current ER lacks full protection against missile threats. The new design places three underground floors below the main unit. These floors will serve as a parking garage during normal times and convert into sheltered hospitalization wards during emergencies.

City officials have approved the construction plans. Excavation work has begun on the site. The project aims to ensure that emergency medicine continues without interruption when patients are trapped in hospital beds.