Kaplan Medical Center Expands Protected Beds After October 7 Attacks

Kaplan Medical Center, located 40 kilometers from the Gaza Strip, treated more than 100 wounded patients transferred from the October 7 attacks. The facility serves more than one million residents across central and southern Israel, from Rishon LeZion and Modi’in in the north to Ashdod and Kiryat Gat in the south.

CEO Prof. Tarif Bader said the main challenge on October 7 was operating under complete uncertainty. He noted that prior escalations allowed some preparation, but the scale of that day required rapid adaptation without clear information.

Bader served nearly three decades in the IDF and was Surgeon General from 2017 to 2020. He previously commanded Israeli field hospitals after earthquakes in Nepal in 2015 and Haiti in 2010. Deputy Director Dr. Alex Tiktinsky, who trained in Ukraine before immigrating in 1998, also held IDF medical positions including battalion physician and head of the Health and Medical Services unit.

He led the Israeli field hospital in Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

After an Iranian ballistic missile struck Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba on June 19, 2025, Kaplan staff revised protection plans. During Operation Roaring Lion at the end of February, the hospital evacuated Building A and created a 14-bed fortified unit for ventilated patients.

The hospital now maintains 145 fully protected beds meeting Ministry of Health standards and roughly 250 protected or semi-protected beds overall. It also expanded remote digital consultations, conducting hundreds of virtual visits daily across multiple specialties.

Tiktinsky said daily drills, evacuation exercises, and protocol updates prepare staff for rapid transition from routine to emergency operations.