40 | NOVEMBER 7 • 2019
MDA workers at
the blood bank
in Ramat Gan
COURTESY OF FRIENDS OF MDA
The new underground blood
bank construction site
Banking on
the Future
Magen David Adom continues work
on underground blood bank.
JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR
M
agen David Adom (MDA)
is a non-governmental
organization established by
the Knesset in 1950 and responsible
for providing emergency medical
services and educating and training
the public for life-saving activities in
Israel. It acts as the civilian arm of the
IDF in times of war. It also is respon-
sible for the country’
s blood-banking.
Israel falls short of World Health
Organization (WHO) standards for
its blood supplies. It has on hand a
supply sufficient for only 3 percent
of its population, or a stock of some
260,000 units instead of the 350,000
or 400,000 it should have, by WHO
standards.
Currently, that blood is being
processed and stored at a facility in
Ramat Gan’
s Sheba Medical Center
that is unprotected from missiles,
biological and chemical attacks and
earthquakes. Built in the 1980s, the
complex was designed to serve a pop-
ulation of 5 million. Today, Israel’
s
population is 9 million and growing.
A new MDA blood banking facil-
ity is under construction in the city
of Ramle. It will be the world’
s first
underground protected blood bank,
equipped with the latest technol-
ogy and able to hold more blood.
The $130 million project is being
funded mostly by American Friends
of Magen David Adom, which has
already raised $100 million.
Moshe Noyovich, a senior Israel
representative of the American
Friends of Magen David Adom who
also oversees the project, was recently
in Michigan to help raise the remain-
ing $30 million. “It will be a state-of-
the-art complex,” he said. “No blood
center in the world will be as shielded
as ours.” He expects the project to be
completed in early 2021.
The nearly 6-acre facility in Ramle,
20 miles southeast of Tel Aviv, will
consist of six floors, an adjacent
MDA logistics center, and parking
spaces for bloodmobiles, ambulanc-
es and donors. The top three floors
will hold rooms for blood donations,
a training center and the facility’
s
administrative center. The lower three
floors will be underground, where
blood will be stored and processed.
Those floors will be protected by spe-
cial shielding to specifications from
the Home Front Command and the
National Security Agency and safe
from missile attacks, biological and
chemical attacks and earthquakes.
Noyovich said the facility will
be able to produce 500,000 units
of blood annually, which will meet
WHO standards. It will be able to
produce and process 2,200 blood
units daily (up to 3,500 units in an
emergency situation), compared to
the current 1,100 units produced
daily. The staff size will more than
double from 184 to 374 employees.
There will be a special shielded
storage space for a strategic supply
of blood, the minimum necessary
for emergencies, such as natural
disasters, wars or other catastrophic
events, Noyovich added.
The project is being done without
any funding from the government,
although MDA was able to get the
land at no cost. “It took more than
two years, but it happened,” Noyovich
said. “The blood bank will be in the
center of the country with proximity
to three main highways, trains, a heli-
pad and two electricity supplies.”
American Friends of Magen David
Adom took it upon themselves to
raise money for the project’
s con-
struction.
Noyavich says the Detroit Jewish
community has always been staunch
supporters of MDA. “I know many
people who are very devoted, very
dedicated to the needs of Israel. It’
s
one of the most dedicated communi-
ties there is.
“This is an amazing megaproject
and it’
s not that far away from being
completed. Two years will be here
before you know it,” Noyovich said.
Donate to Friends of MDA at afmda.org.
Eretz