| Soroka Medical Center | |
|---|---|
| Clalit Health Services | |
 | |
 Soroka Medical Center, Beersheba | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | Beersheba,Negev,Israel |
| Coordinates | 31°15′32″N34°48′05″E / 31.25889°N 34.80139°E /31.25889; 34.80139 |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | Public hospital |
| Type | Teaching hospital |
| Affiliated university | Ben Gurion University |
| Services | |
| Standards | Tertiary care |
| Emergency department | Level I Trauma Center |
| Beds | 1,191[1] |
| History | |
| Opened | 1959 |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
Soroka University Medical Center (Hebrew:המרכז הרפואי סורוקה,HaMerkaz HaRefu'i Soroka), a part of theClalit Health Services Group, is the general hospital ofBeersheba,Israel, it serves as the central hospital of the region and provides medical services to approximately one million residents of the South,[2] fromKiryat Gat andAshkelon toEilat. Soroka has 1,191 hospital beds,[1] and is spread over 286 dunams (0.286 km2; 0.110 sq mi) in the center of Beer-Sheva.
Soroka provides medical care to all communities in the region, includingNegev Bedouins. It is ateaching hospital affiliated with the faculty of Health Sciences atBen-Gurion University of the Negev, whose campus is adjacent to the hospital. During times of conflict in the South (such asthe October 7th 2023 attack on Israel), Soroka has served as an emergency center for casualties.[3]
Following theindependence of Israel, the Medical Corps established a temporary military hospital in one of the formerOttoman government buildings inBeersheva. A year later, the hospital was transferred to a British government compound, where it was run by theHadassah Medical Association and named after Dr.Chaim Yassky.[4]
In 1949,Clalit Health Fund of the Hebrew Workers in Eretz Israel opened a clinic in the city to serve citizens who were members of theHistadrut. This clinic required hospital services for continued treatment. The nearest hospital was theKaplan Medical Center inRehovot.
Hadassah was not in a position to expand its operations due to budgetary constraints asHadassah Hospital in Jerusalem was then under construction.
David Ben-Gurion proposed that the government should establish a hospital in theNegev rather than Hadassah or the Histadrut, but the Health Ministry did not have sufficient funding.[5]
David Tuviyahu,mayor of Beersheva, joined the effort to establish a larger, more spacious and modern hospital. For this purpose, he met with various individuals, among them Moshe Soroka, chairman of theClalit Health Services. Soroka expressed his willingness in principle for the Histadrut Health Fund to establish a hospital, but Minister of HealthYosef Serlin, who aspired to reduce the activity of the fund and transfer it to the state, objected to this idea.
In August 1955, Dov Begun, representative of the Histadrut in theUnited States, convinced the president of theInternational Ladies' Garment Workers' Union,David Dubinsky (1892–1982), to donate US$1 million ($250,000 every year for four years) toward establishing a hospital in the Negev that would commemorate the organization's name.[6]
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 23 July 1956. The hospital building was designed by architectsArieh Sharon and Benjamin Idelson.[7]
In October 1959, the opening ceremony of the Central Hospital of the Negev was held. At first, the hospital contained several departments: theGeneral Surgery Department (in the framework of which were theOtolaryngology Department, theOphthalmology Department, and theUrology Department), twointernal medicine departments, theOrthopedic Department, theCardiology Institute, and theRadiology Institute. Later, additional departments were opened.
After Moshe Soroka, the director of Clalit Health Organization in the 1950s, had died in 1972, the hospital was renamed in his memory.[8]
In 2018,Shlomi Codish was named director-general of the hospital, replacing Ehud Davidson, who held the post for five years.[9]
On 19 June 2025, during theIran–Israel war, the hospital was struck by an Iranian missile, causing extensive damage and injuring about 65 people.[10][11]
The hospital covers an area of 286 dunams, with a constructed area of more than 200,000 square meters (2.15 million square feet) and includes 30 buildings.
Soroka Medical Center has over 40 inpatient departments and 1,191 hospital beds. In addition to the hospital departments, there are dozens of other units that provide services to hospitalized and ambulatory patients, in theEmergency Medicine Department, institutes, and outpatient clinics.
Soroka's Department ofEmergency Medicine, with the largest volume of activity in Israel (more than 270,000 visits annually), is the leading such department in the country according to a health care survey on service and quality conducted by the Ministry of Health.[12]
In Soroka's delivery rooms more than 17,000 babies are born every year, an exceptionally high number in international terms.[13]
In 2023, 32,400 surgeries were performed at the hospital and 100,000 hospitalizations took place. There were over 600,000 visits to the outpatient clinics.
Soroka has some 5,700 employees, including more than 900 doctors, 2,000 nurses, 800 health workers and 500 administrative employees.
Soroka Medical Center provides medical services to more than one million residents of theNegev, who reside in 60% of the geographical area of the country.[14] Unique populations cared for at Soroka includeBedouins, who make up a third of the population, and large groups of immigrants fromEthiopia and theformer Soviet Union.
Soroka Medical Center is a university medical center that maintains close ties withBen-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU).[16] The hospital staff partners in training the students. Approximately 1,000 students study at the hospital annually. The campus of BGU's Faculty ofHealth Sciences is located in the hospital compound.
Manyclinical trials approved by theHelsinki Committee are conducted at Soroka. As of 2023, the committee is chaired by Prof. Eitan Lunenfeld.
A center forclinical research operates at Soroka, leading and promoting research with hospital staff and colleagues outside of the hospital inIsrael and abroad, sometimes in cooperation withBGU.[17]
Every year, approximately 300 new studies are approved at the hospital, and some 600 articles on research of clinical and managerial significance have been published in the scientific literature.[18]
| Years | Director General | |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 1978 | Prof. Yosef Stern |
| 1978 | 1983 | Dr. David Ronen |
| 1983 | 1987 | Prof. Yair Shapira |
| 1987 | 1989 | Dr. Yitzhak Romem |
| 1989 | 1995 | Prof. Haim Reuveni |
| 1995 | 1997 | Dr. Yitzhak Peterburg |
| 1997 | 2001 | Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef |
| 2001 | 2007 | Dr. Eitan Chai-Am |
| 2007 | 2013 | Prof. Michael Sherf |
| 2013 | 2018 | Prof. Ehud Davidson |
| 2018 | present | Prof.Shlomi Codish |
| Northern District | |
|---|---|
| Haifa District | |
| Center District | |
| Tel Aviv District | |
| Jerusalem District | |
| South District | |
| International | |
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| National | |
