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How the trauma of October 7 was a catalyst for innovations in Israeli healthcare

The turmoil has driven the development of groundbreaking tools to aid its citizens and inspire solutions worldwide.

January 15, 2025 09:31
GettyImages-2147898853
Israeli medical staff and a soldier take part in a simulation drill at a parking garage that can be turned into an emergency underground hospital facility, at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, on April 18, 2024. The structure is fortified against missiles, chemical and biological warfare and can be converted from a 1,500-vehicle underground parking lot into a 2,000-bed hospital in case of an emergency (Getty Images)
6 min read

The October 7 massacre devastated Israeli society, leaving deep physical and mental scars. But according to healthcare experts, it also became a catalyst for healthcare innovation. Israel was already a world leader in healthcare technology, but the turmoil has driven the development of groundbreaking tools to aid its citizens and inspire solutions worldwide.

“The unique position of Israel as a beacon of healthcare innovation to the world has not changed,” said Ran Balicer, chief innovation officer and deputy director-general at Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest health service organisations. “As a matter of fact, the necessity brought by the last year’s events has actually driven innovation massively more forward than before.”

One area that highlights this shift is mental health – a domain Balicer admits was somewhat neglected in Israel for decades. After October 7, there was an unprecedented surge in demand. Suddenly, attention turned to translating innovative, meaningful ideas from theory into large-scale practice.

Clalit was already a global leader in data and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven healthcare. The organisation has been leveraging advanced approaches to move from reactive care to predictive, proactive and preventive healthcare across multiple domains. For example, Clalit has applied these methods to areas such as diabetes, fall prevention, fractures and the identification of diseases including hepatitis C. Its work has been published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine and is being evaluated by healthcare systems worldwide.

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Israel