Hadassah Medical Center inaugurated a medical center in Limassol, Cyprus, on Thursday evening and announced plans for a hospital near the island’s capital, Nicosia, expanding the Jerusalem-based institution’s services overseas.
The Limassol facility had begun treating patients ahead of the formal inauguration. Hadassah said the center would bring together Cypriot doctors and healthcare professionals with specialists from its Jerusalem medical teams.
Services included MRI and CT scans, cardiology, neurology, laboratory testing, specialist clinics, rehabilitation and preventive medicine. The center would draw on Hadassah’s clinical expertise and maintain ongoing professional cooperation with its staff in Israel, the institution said.
President Isaac Herzog welcomed the initiative in a message for the inauguration, describing it as a new chapter in relations between Israel and Cyprus.
“The opening of the center symbolizes a bridge between our peoples and between dedicated professionals committed to improving human life,” Herzog said.
Hadassah presented the project as a further area of cooperation between the two countries, alongside their ties in energy, security, trade, research and tourism.
Hospital planned near Nicosia
The planned hospital near Nicosia would include inpatient wards, research activities and partnerships in medical education and training, Hadassah said. It was intended to broaden the range of care the institution could offer in Cyprus.
Hadassah did not provide a construction timetable or cost estimate for the hospital in its announcement.
Prof. Yoram Weiss, Hadassah’s director-general, said the Cyprus expansion reflected the institution’s commitment to making its medical expertise available beyond its existing hospitals.
“The boundaries of medicine should extend far beyond the walls of our hospitals,” Weiss said. “We should make medical care accessible wherever we can help, heal, save lives and teach.”
He said Cypriot medical professionals would work alongside Hadassah specialists to serve patients from Cyprus and the wider region.
Dalia Itzik, chairwoman of Hadassah’s board and a former speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, said the initiative would create opportunities for closer cooperation between the two countries’ medical communities.
“I am particularly proud that this initiative contributes to strengthening the longstanding friendship between Cyprus and Israel,” she said.
Carol Ann Schwartz, national president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, said the partnership would extend the reach of the institution’s medical work.
“The cooperation in Cyprus reflects Hadassah Medical Center’s commitment to bringing to the world the medical breakthroughs it has led in Israel, improving people’s lives across national borders, and strengthens our belief that medicine can serve as a bridge to peace,” Schwartz said.
Hadassah expands medical services across Israel and abroad
The Cyprus project followed Hadassah’s expansion of services within Israel through medical centers in Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem; Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv; and Netivot, in the south.
The Netivot center opened in February to serve residents of the western Negev. Hadassah said its expansion strategy combined the development of services closer to patients’ homes in Israel with new medical partnerships abroad.