Turning 70 together with the State of Israel

In June 1948, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion personally tasked Dr. Chaim Sheba, the first Surgeon General of the IDF, with the opening of a small military hospital to treat the wounded of Israel's War of Independence. It was called Army Hospital No. 5.  In 1953 the name of Army Hospital No. 5 was changed to Tel-Hashomer Hospital. It was now a civilian hospital that still maintained a special relationship with the IDF and the treatment of wounded soldiers.

Born in 1948, Tel-Hashomer Hospital developed parallel to the growth of Israel. The old barracks morphing into an expansive state-of-the-art hospital which subsequently was named the Chaim Sheba Medical Center (upon Prof. Chaim Sheba's passing in July 1971) as it grew to encompass specialized hospitals, hundreds of medical clinics, centers of excellence and scientific laboratories.

Today, we carry the national responsibility for the long-term care and lifelong treatment of Israel’s most difficult rehabilitation cases, and especially those of injured soldiers and victims of terror. We are the foremost rehabilitation center in the nation and represent the cutting edge of rehabilitative medicine worldwide with advanced technology extending care beyond the conventional scope.

Sheba is also home to the National Burn Center – the largest and most sophisticated burn unit in Israel, where severely wounded soldiers receive specialized treatments and where new technologies are honed and developed for the benefit of all.

In fact, Sheba is a hub of technological innovation – just like the Startup Nation itself. Home to the Israel Center for Medical Simulation (MSR) –that plays a vital role in simulation-based medical education both for civilian healthcare professionals and IDF medical personnel, and has evolved into a world leader in this field since its inception in 2001.           

Sheba has been here at every historical juncture of the nation and shall continue to be here in the future, to serve the country and shine a beacon of light and hope, eternally linked to the heartbeat of the State of Israel.