The Meir Medical Center with its 717 beds is the central medical center of the Sharon and Shomron area, serving a population of some 800,000 residents from the Yarkon Bridge on Petah Tikva Road in the south to Natanya Road in the North. A number of large cities are included in this area: Ramat Hasharon, Hod Hasharon, Kfar Saba, Herzliya, Raanana, and Natanya, as well as a large number of settlements, villages and cities.
The hospital is a highway junction for the meeting of the Arab and Jewish populations due to its unique capabilities, and as such serves as a local symbol of Arab-Jewish co-existence in the State of Israel.
At “Meir†we believe that excellence, devotion, concern professionalism are the values that motivate and guide the medical and administrative staffs in all the fields and in real time.
History:
Meir Medical Center was opened to serve the public on July 15, 1956. It was built to treat those ill with tuberculosis and thus the structure is suited to the needs of tuberculosis patients at that time. Instead of stairwells, ramps were built in order to ease the way up for the lung patients. Till this very day, Meir is the only hospital with this kind of ramp. At that time, the courtyard of the hospital was Morik Park, in the middle of which was a large pond on which swans swam, and in which there were goldfish brought especially from Bet Alfa.
When the building was dedicated in 1956 it was selected as one of the most beautiful in the world. A year after Meir Medical Center was opened, it became apparent that there was no need for a special hospital for tuberculosis patients in light of the disinfestations of the disease in Israel, and the effective treatment with antibiotics that was already given to patients at that time.
This raised the possibility of converting it to a general hospital. Seeing that the hospital was mainly empty, it was decided to convert it into a general hospital. This process took place over a number of years.
More About the hospital:
Total number of employees: 2357
Physicians: 350
Nurses: 1000
National Service Workers: 60 Volunteers: 500
Academic and clinical high lights of the Meir Medical Center:
Meir Medical Center is affiliated with the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
Sixty three of staff members of the hospital have academic nominations at the Tel Aviv School of Medicine (31 of them are professors) and are involved in teaching and research (clinical and basic). Prof. Yoseph Mekori, head of Internal B Department is the present Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine. In addition to the Israeli program, the staff is also involved in the New York State program of the Tel Aviv University (authorized by the New York state legislature) which includes American and Canadian students.
The research at the Meir Med Ctr., which also involves training of M.Sc. and Ph.D. students, is comprised of practicing physicians and basic research scientists. The research is carried out with up to date molecular and cellular techniques using modern facilities such as DNA sequencer, real time PCR, flow cytometer, ….
Research is multidisciplinary, as basic scientists and clinicians combine efforts to produce synergy. The preclinical and clinical teams help realize the ultimate goals of research such as:
* Cancer and pregnancy
* Myeloma as a model for cell-microenvironment interaction in the malignant process
* cardiovascular clinical research
* BRCA mutations and uterine papillary carcinoma
* Ovarian and endometrial cancer research treatments
* Chronic Granulomatous Disease research in Israel
* Telomeres and hepatitis C
* Telomerase activity modulation in human prostate cancer.
* Specific diagnostic tests using real time PCR in patients with baceteremia
* Diabetes and endothelial dysfunction
* Signal transduction pathways in Mast cells.
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