MDA's blood bank in Haifa will not close • Storage and deliveries will continue, production will move to Ramla
(live here) – After months of uncertainty, reassuring news has been received for residents of the north: the Magen David Adom blood bank in Haifa will not be closed completely. Although production and laboratory testing processes will be suspended as of April 30, 2025, storage and delivery activities will continue as usual.
The move is part of MDA's broad policy to centralize production and transportation systems in the new and advanced building in Ramla - the Marcus Blood Services Center, which was inaugurated in 2022 and began full operation in October 2023. The new center is considered one of the most advanced in the world, and includes three protected underground floors, first-class security and protection systems, and a one-of-a-kind secure cold room with an area of approximately 400 square meters, which allows for the storage of tens of thousands of blood units even in emergency conditions.
Concentration of activity – maximum efficiency
MDA's blood services, operating under the MDA Law (1950), are responsible for collecting, processing, testing, and supplying blood units to all hospitals in the country as well as to the IDF. With the move to Ramla, all production processes are carried out in one place, which allows for the integration of cutting-edge technologies, shortened response times, and maintaining an exceptionally high safety standard.
The impressive structure employs about 280 employees – including laboratory personnel, blood donors and logistics personnel – and operates advanced laboratories that can process up to half a million blood units per year. The center is resistant to conventional and unconventional threats, earthquakes and situations of security escalation, and is able to operate completely independently – even when disconnected from external systems – thanks to an array of generators and internal backups.
Over 270 blood donations per year
MDA's blood services collect approximately 270,000 units of blood each year – almost all of which are donated by volunteers, and without any compensation. Approximately 1,200 units are collected per day, with 96% of them collected by blood drives at schools, workplaces, community centers and military bases. The remaining donations are received in permanent donation rooms at MDA stations. 71% of donors are men and 29% are women.
The equipment used in the donation process is disposable, sterile, and operated by trained and experienced staff. All blood donations are carefully screened before being transferred for medical use.
A donation of $130 million – to establish a center that is unique in the world
The establishment of the center in Ramla was made possible thanks to an impressive fundraising of $130 million, collected from generous donations from MDA friends around the world – led by the couple Bernie and Billy Marcus, Dr. Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon Adelson. The building bears their names, and it also includes the public cord blood bank, the national milk bank and the Magen David Adom central logistics center.
On the ground floor of the building, there is an innovative donation room, open to citizens interested in donating blood. The three underground floors, where the laboratories and protected rooms operate, make the center a unique facility that allows MDA to operate at full capacity even in extreme emergency scenarios.
Despite the transfer of production processes to Ramla, the Haifa Blood Bank continues to be a vital link in the chain: it will function as a storage and distribution center for blood units, ensuring their rapid arrival to hospitals and centers in the north without compromising on quality or availability.
Miriam Adelson from Haifa donated to the building of the blood bank that will move from Haifa to Ramla. You understand the absurdity.
It would be possible to build a building in Haifa like the one in Ramla that would also be a center in the north for MDA.
– Just imagine during the war, moving from Ramla to Haifa and the north. Absurdity follows absurdity. It should have been noted that not only in Ramla, but also in Haifa, a second such center was built. But that's how it is when there are failed mayors and amateur management here.