Emergency medical services in Israel

Emergency medical services in Israel are provided by the Magen David Adom (MDA) organization, and in some places by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

These are supplemented by Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances, mobile intensive care units (MICU) and a variety of first responders.

The system, for the most part, used to conform to the Franco-German (as opposed to the Anglo-American) [1] model of EMS care, and the presence of physicians at high-acuity emergencies was not uncommon.

United Hatzalah consists of 6,000 fully trained first response volunteers, that provide completely free services and whose mission it is to fill the gap between when the emergency occurs and the arrival of an ambulance.

United Hatzalah volunteers utilize various vehicles, including ambucycles, e-bikes, ambuboats, ATVs and more in order to reach the patients in their most vital time of need.

[3] Non-emergency and repatriation air ambulance service is normally provided by a variety of private charter carriers, such as Arrow Aviation in Israel.

[7] In an unusual move aimed at raising revenue to offset operating costs, MDA has begun to market its expertise at emergency care and system organization on an international level.

[12] Having the volunteers respond from wherever they are significantly cuts downs emergency medical response time and alleviates pressure on the ambulance services, while simultaneously galvanizing and increasing community resiliency.