Israel opened a brand new coronavirus treatment facility in collaboration with the country’s army medical corps on Sunday, as per an AFP report. The facility will look to bolster an embattled healthcare system reeling under the pressure of increasing coronavirus cases.

Israel currently has an alarming highest daily coronavirus infection rate per capita, as the number of patients continues to rise.

The Rambam Hospital which will be run in collaboration with the country’s army is located in the northern city of Haifa and includes a control room where patients are under surveillance via video. The facility also comes equipped with an underground coronavirus ward that was previously used as a car park.

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Avi Weissman who is the deputy manager at the hospital stated that the collaboration with the army will enable the hospital to restore services disrupted by the increasing coronavirus workload.

“ We had to close down operating rooms, we had to close down some regular ambulatory services (and) we had to close down elective surgery,” reported AFP quoting Weissman. 

He added that with the collaboration of the army, “we will be able to free up Rambam personnel (to go back) to regular floors.”

While Israel’s army provides its services to Israeli military personnel and deploys to foreign humanitarian crises, the unit is currently working to mitigate the increasing burden on coronavirus cases in the country.

Ariel Furer the head of the army’s COVID-19 department, stated, “We understand that the times are very difficult. The pandemic is here to stay.”

The new coronavirus ward was initially built as an underground medical facility before being converted to a car park, which has been reconverted to receive patients as COVID-19 cases surge.

It currently has roughly 60 patients but could accommodate up to 800 if the epidemic in Israel continues to escalate, Weissman said.

One coronavirus patient, 56-year-old Felix Winitsky, told AFP that his whole family had contracted COVID-19 and that his father died from the virus 10 days ago.

“Until now I thought that corona was not a big deal,” he said. “But when it touches you, it’s a very difficult disease.”

Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, at Rambam for the unit’s opening, said the army “was working on closing the gaps that have formed within a good public healthcare system that has been neglected for a decade.”

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That criticism of Gantz’s former election rival Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoes comments from independent experts who accuse the premier of not prioritising healthcare since taking office in 2009.

Israel, a country of about nine million people, has recorded more than 290,000 coronavirus cases, including 1,956 deaths.