Hadassah Hospital is under scrutiny after Israeli media reported that it opened a medical centre in Limassol without informing Israel’s health and finance ministries, which oversee its finances and operations.
The Israeli health ministry informed that the plan “has not yet been conveyed to the ministry”.
Both ministries said they had not been given notice of the project in advance and called for an examination of its effect on Hadassah’s finances and healthcare services in Israel.
Israeli media reported that Hadassah received 162 million shekels (Over €46.5 million) in state support last year.
Hadassah has insisted that the hospital itself “did not invest a single shekel” towards the Limassol centre, which was financed by Cypriot investors.
Hadassah said it would contribute medical expertise and clinical guidance, and that the venture would “help improve Israel’s international image”.
Israeli media questioned what the hospital earns from the use of its brand, expertise and doctors’ time, and reported that it plans to expand further in Cyprus.
Hadassah Medical Centre’s opening in Limassol was ratified in Israel by Hadassah’s governing bodies, including the Women’s Zionist Organisation of America, which founded the hospital.
The centre, based in Ayios Tychonas, began seeing patients in July and was formally inaugurated last Thursday, with local investors financing the project.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog described the centre as “an important new chapter in relations between Israel and Cyprus”.
Carol Ann Schwartz, president of the Women’s Zionist Organisation of America, which founded Hadassah, said the Cyprus venture showed that “medicine serves as a bridge to peace.”
The centre currently has no operating theatres or inpatient beds, instead offering MRI, X-ray and ultrasound imaging, cardiac assessment, neurological rehabilitation and physiotherapy.
Second opinions from Hadassah specialists in Jerusalem are provided privately, with patients told the cost in advance, while local doctors and staff work with support from Hadassah specialists in Jerusalem.
From November 21, all referrals from Cyprus to Hadassah in Jerusalem will be handled exclusively through the Limassol centre.
Laboratory and physiotherapy services are available through the general health system (Gesy), and the centre is awaiting approval for its imaging department.
A planning application for a larger Nicosia project followed in December 2022, yet approval delays led the partners to proceed in Limassol.
The planned Hadassah Healthcare Park in Lakatamia, to be built by Osopil Ltd, exceeds €150 million and includes a private hospital with 156 beds and a medical university for up to 900 students.
Hadassah has said construction of its largest hospital in Cyprus is planned within three years.
The Cyprus Mail approached Hadassah medical centre as well as the Israeli health and finance ministries for comment.