The $25,000,000 Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center was dedicated here today at Kiryat Hadassah, on the western outskirts of Jerusalem, with thousands of persons from all parts of Israel participating in the ceremonies. More than 1,000 guests from abroad were also present, including several hundred Hadassah members who made a special pilgrimage from the United States.
Speakers at the dedication ceremonies were Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion; Ogden Reid, United States Ambassador to Israel; Dr. Miriam K. Freund, national president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America; Professor B. Mazar, president of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; and Dr. Kalman J. Mann, director-general of the Hadassah Medical Organization.
Consolidated in the Medical Center will be all of Hadassah’s medical, clinical, diagnostic and research facilities presently in Jerusalem. The Medical Center will include a 500-bed teaching hospital with service laboratories; a separate mother and child pavilion for maternity and infant care; an outpatient department, capable of handling more than 200,000 patient visits annually; the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School — Israel’s only medical school — founded in 1949 by the Hebrew University and Hadassah; and the Henrietta Szold School of Nursing and Residence. In all, the Medical Center complex will comprise 17 structures. It is the largest complex of buildings in Israel.
The Medical Center will have the most modern equipment for treatment and research, including the newest type model of the cobalt bomb for cancer research and high voltage therapy. Most of this equipment has been purchased in the United States. Hadassah is also building six reservoirs –capable of holding a 50-day supply of water-to service the Medical Center. These reservoirs will have a capacity of more than two million gallons. Medical Center water requirements are estimated at about 40,000 gallons a day. These reservoirs will be of vital importance since there is no rainfall in Israel for nearly eight months out of the year,
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.