"THE STATE EXPECTS MAGEN DAVID ADOM TO TACKLE NATIONAL CHALLENGES, BUT WITH NO STATE BUDGET"

As early as 6:30 AM on October 7th, the Director General of Magen David Adom, Eli Bin, received a phone call informing him of rocket fire to southern Israel. "From past experience, we know that this kind of rocket attack is sometimes a retaliation for an IDF attack in Gaza, which we are notified of via the IDF-MDA coordination mechanism. That morning, there was no early warning or apparent reason for the massive rocket attack," Bin told Maya Hasson Kraus at the Haaretz Labels Israel Medical Conference, "When the rocket-fire extended to the center of Israel – we realized that something unusual was happening."

According to Bin, during holidays, festivals and special occasions Magen David Adom is always on high alert, due to many travelers, as part of the preparedness for road accidents or mass casualty incidents, even if the IDF doesn't provide an early warning for an attack. "Therefore, on that Saturday, we were already at a higher level of preparedness than other emergency services in the country," he stated.

"For Magen David Adom, transitioning from routine operations to full scale emergency action is a matter of minutes," Bin asserted. This is the DNA of our organization: to deliver full capability within a few minutes."

On that Saturday morning, during which six Magen David Adom staff members were killed while providing immediate, life-saving medical care to the wounded, Bin and his team made three critical and life-saving decisions. "The first was to keep the night shift personnel, who were supposed to finish their work at seven in the morning, on duty until further notice," Bin revealed. That way, just 30 minutes after the initial attack, Magen David Adom's response capacity doubled. "Another decision was to call all Magen David Adom teams from their homes straight to the stations, and from there – to the incidents on the ground, "Bin explained. "And another step we decided on was to open a number of blood donation sites. We realized very quickly that there were many injured people who would be difficult to reach and rescue, and that the hospitals would need blood supplies. These decisions saved many lives in the country."

Bin related that even during the COVID pandemic, when many organizations collapsed under the load, the Magen David Adom 101 emergency call center handled about 80,000 calls a day. "On October 7th, our 101 emergency call center received nearly 22,000 calls, compared to some 4,500 during a regular Saturday," Bin asserted, "and even then all the emergency hotlines were staffed and we managed to handle all the incidents. Magen David Adom is an organization used to responding from zero to a hundred, within minutes."

-Bin emphasized the organization's challenges since it is not budgeted by the state. "In the end, there is no organization in the world that, based on its national mandate, faces so many challenges but receives no state funding. It is unheard of, worldwide," he said. According to him, although the state buys services from Magen David Adom for hundreds of millions of shekels, it does not fund either the preparedness of the organization, nor any effective training of its personnel. "Things must change, especially in light of the current reality. Magen David Adom must remain a strong organization, with an ongoing commitment to provide its life-saving services throughout the country, even during the most difficult times," Bin concluded.

In collaboration with Magen David Adom