In Israeli border town, hospital moves ER two floors underground

But the 600-bed Barzilai Medical Centre in the town, about 57 km from Tel Aviv, is buzzing, overwhelmed by the flow of patients since the attacks.

The hospital was also targeted in rocket attacks — the damage is visible in its paediatric wing. The office of the head of the paediatric department has a huge hole in the wall, caused by a blast.

“The paediatric head was sitting in his office when he heard the air siren. He had about 30 seconds to reach the hospital’s underground bunker. He ran and just about managed to escape being hit by the rocket,” said Dr Omri Lubovsky, who heads the orthopaedic department. “Thankfully, there were no children at the hospital, so there were no casualties,” he said.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) personnel are now stationed outside and inside the hospital.

Dr Lubovsky recalled how he was at home in Jerusalem, about 40 minutes away by vehicle, when he got a call from the hospital’s Emergency Room (ER). “I sat in my car and rushed to the hospital. Rockets were falling as we approached the hospital… we also came to know that there were Hamas attackers at large, but we made it in quick time,” he said.

Before October 7, the Barzilai Medical Centre, officially designated as a rural hospital in southern Israel, would see about one gunshot injury in a week. “That day, we suddenly got people with gunshot wounds, fractures, shrapnel injuries in hordes…we got about 60 patients per hour in the first few hours… on the first day itself, we got 250 patients within 10 hours,” Dr Lubovsky said.

“We took decisions on the line of treatment without getting the X-rays done, since it was not possible to do the X-rays within a short period of time,” he said.

Roxan, employed with the hospital’s administration department, said they had to move the entire ER and critical patients to two floors below ground level — the second basement, which is protected from blasts. “We were able to set up the entire hospital in the basement within four to six hours,” she said.

Dr Lubovsky, whose parents migrated from Poland after having survived the Holocaust, said the older buildings in Ashkelon, like the older wing of the hospital, are not blast-proof. But the newer buildings — and the hospital’s new wing — have reinforced blast-proof walls. “They are ugly, but they are safe…what to do,” he said.

Ricky Shay, an Indian Jew who lives with her family in Ashkelon, said she has to remain alert all the time. “In Sderot, the time for rushing to the shelter is 15 seconds; in Ashkelon, it is 30 seconds… We hope to escape… We have to remain alert all the time, even when we are sleeping,” said the 50-year-old.

Born to parents who migrated to Israel from Mumbai in the 1960s, Shay proudly calls her home ‘Little India’. The decor is a fusion of Indian and Jewish paintings and decorations.

Shay, who was earlier a council member of the Ashkelon municipality, has four children – two sons and two daughters. “Both my sons, in their mid-20s, have gone back to the combat unit to fight for Israel… I am a fighter, and so are my children,” she said.

Like many other houses in the area, her house, too, was damaged in rocket attacks. “I have to go to the council for reparations… but I am not leaving this place. This is my home,” she said.