Renovating the Iconic Round Building During a Global Pandemic

Not even a global pandemic could stop the renovation of Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem’s iconic Round Building. Revitalizing this beacon of healing is crucial to expanding cutting-edge health care to Jerusalem’s skyrocketing population. As Hadassah Medical Organization teams led the fight against COVID-19, they transformed the Round Building’s vacant floors into ICUs to save countless lives — while the building’s critical expansion was kept on track.

•A new, state-of-the-art Dialysis Unit has opened, with plans to open Internal Medicine,

Ophthalmology and Hematology-

Oncology departments soon. •200 more beds will significantly increase capacity, while construction remains in progress to build an additional two floors to provide larger, more modern spaces. •Safe rooms are being added on all floors, providing a fortified structure that will protect patients and staff against earthquakes, terror attacks and other major disruptions. •Pandemic-ready: Planners are designing an internal medicine area that could be transformed into an isolation unit where every bed would be equipped with ventilators. As Israel emerges from the pandemic, Hadassah’s 360-degree vision of healing is coming full circle.

For the people of Israel and the world, the Round Building is more than a hospital. It’s about healing. It’s about compassion. It’s about life.

Prof. Sigal Sviri, head of Hadassah Ein Kerem’s COVID-19 Outbreak ICU