Haifa is the medical centre of the north, with four hospitals: Rambam, Bnei Zion, Carmel and Elisha. Here's what I'd know before the first time you need one.
The hospitals
- Rambam Health Care Campus in Bat Galim is the only tertiary medical centre and level 1 trauma centre in northern Israel. Its emergency department has 36 beds and sees about 120,000 patients a year. It's a 5-10 minute walk from Bat Galim bus and train stations, and Metronit line 2 serves it. The underground car park caps at NIS 49 a day; free parking is at the lower cable-car lot (94 HaAliya St) with a free shuttle Sun-Thu 06:30-17:00. Appointments: *5324 or 04-777-3568.
- Carmel Medical Center (7 Michal St, Clalit) has separate emergency rooms for adults (04-8250333), children (04-8250240), women (04-8250337) and women in labour (04-8250252).
- Bnai Zion Medical Center in upper Hadar opened in 1922 and is Haifa's oldest hospital. It books appointments by WhatsApp.
Interpreters at Rambam
Rambam offers free simultaneous interpreting in Russian, Arabic, French and Amharic (Sun-Thu 08:00-20:00, Fri 08:00-13:00). That's an interpreter service, not the language of the staff, which is why the directory shows those languages on Rambam's listing. Ask for it when you book.
After hours: urgent care by health fund
- Clalit: the Lin urgent care centre (37 James de Rothschild Blvd; Sun-Thu 19:00-23:00, Fri-Sat 12:00-23:00) and the centre at Carmel Medical Center. At Carmel, Clalit says to follow the "Moked Clalit" signs, not to go to the hospital ER.
- Leumit: its urgent-care search lists only Bikur Rofe, 17 Ben Gurion Blvd (04-8507350), open evenings until midnight and 09:00-24:00 on Shabbat and holidays. Leumit's 24/7 advice line is *507.
- Terem has no Haifa branch; the nearest is Kiryat Bialik.
Beit Ole notes that in Israel an ambulance ride is paid unless the hospital stay lasts more than 24 hours. In an emergency call MDA on 101.
Your health fund
- Maccabi lists 10 medical centres in Haifa. In its service guide (5 October 2026), 114 of 394 Haifa doctors list Russian, 354 list English and 23 list French. The directory has Russian- and English-speaking doctors from that guide.
- Clalit has clinics across the city, including one on the Technion campus. Its Tipat Halav station that was on Einstein St has moved to the Grand Canyon mall.
- Leumit has 4 medical centres in Haifa.
- Meuhedet: I couldn't check its Haifa branches, because its site blocks automated lookups. If you're a Meuhedet member in Haifa, tell me which branch and after-hours centre you use.
See all health fund branches.
Pharmacies and paperwork
The municipality publishes a page of on-duty pharmacies; outside the listed hours, call the number posted on the pharmacy door. The Ministry of Health Haifa office (5 Hassan Shukri St, 04-8632985) issues vaccination records in English, useful for schools and universities abroad.
