The ‘Ziv’ Medical Center is located in the city of Safed, “the capital of the Upper Galilee”, a pastoral and green area with a rich and fascinating history. The center was established in 1910, by Edmond Jamed de Rothschild and from then until today, it provides medical services to the residents of the north during routine and also during emergencies.
The main goal of the medical center is to promote medical services for the residents of the Galilee and the Golan heights by providing professional, fast, efficient and courteous medical treatment by a professional and experienced team, with the use of advanced technologies.
The director of the ‘Ziv’ Medical Center is Professor Salman Zarka. Professor Zarka is a retired colonel, the highest rank in the medical corps, and has served for 25 years, his last position being commander of the military health services department. As the director of the medical center, Zarka works hard in order to minimize the gaps of health services given in the north of the country compared to those given in the center of the country and makes sure to bring services to the medical center, innovative and advanced technological means and a skilled professional team in order to enable the provision of the highest level of health services to the residents of the North. Professor Zarka is one of the ten most influential health leaders in Israel in the last decade. For his achievements in the North and for the medical projects he led, such as being the professional responsible for the conduct during COVID19 (between the years 2021-2023), he even got to light a beacon on Israels 71st Independence Day national ceremony.
The Ziv Medical Center also serves as an academic institution associated with the Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University, in Safed. There is a close relationship between the faculty and the medical center, which is reflected in the integration of the center’s doctors into the teaching staff of the faculty and in the guidance of the students in the inpatient wards of the medical center. The connection between the institutions significantly strengthened the field of research, and today the research department at the medical center conducts more than 160 clinical studies and collaborates with the Faculty of Medicine and the Galilee Research Authority.
The last decade was characterized by significant development and progress for the center, new medical units were opened and initiatives were promoted in the field of infrastructure, research, academia and medical and paramedical services. Among other things, an advanced oncology center that contains a radiation institute that uses the most advanced technology in the world, a PET CT institute, Oncoline – a unique service that provides patients with a complete package of assistance. The maternity department is one of the leading departments in the medical center with professional and skilled staff specializing in high-risk pregnancies, private delivery rooms with the possibility of water birth and new private rooms with a view of the Galilee mountains.
In recent years, units and services have been added such as a stroke unit, phototherapy treatments and an advanced pain institute. The existing inpatient wards are undergoing a facelift and new construction alongside the implementation of advanced technology, quality assurance and risk management, infection prevention and ongoing work according to quality and safety standards.
One of the most prominent wings of the medical center is the mental health wing, which includes a psychiatric department for adults and a psychiatric department for children and youth, consisting of two hospitalization departments, clinics and a school. The department’s staff consists of doctors and professionals who specialize in the treatment of eating disorders and are leaders in the field of mental treatment and research promotion.
Due to the fact that the center is the northernmost hospital in Israel and its proximity to the Lebanese and Syrian border, the center’s staff is a part of every scenario in the history of Israel, whether in treating the wounded from security incidents and battlefield, Syrian citizens who were injured during the (Syrian) civil war, people wounded in the Miron tragedy and, as of today, providing a response Medical and treatment of the wounded of the Iron Swords War.
Following the recent changes in the northern region and the ongoing battle in the country’s northern borders, the Ministry of Health decided to significantly increase the center’s services and define it as a trauma center . This decision led to the addition of standards for the opening of new wings, departments and units and the expansion of the medical treatments provided to the residents of the north. Among the new units that will begin operating in the near future- an IVF unit, a thoracic surgery unit, neurosurgery, a pressure chamber institute, ext.