MDA's missions in Israel

7/7/24 at the service of life

Thanks to its human resources, cutting-edge technology and the organisation’s core values, the MDA is creating revolutionary medicine and is a pioneer in emergency care in Israel and around the world.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE

Around 34,500 ambulance staff, paramedics and first aiders, many of whom have extensive experience of responding to mass casualty emergencies.
MDA emergency vehicles were deployed 1,447,561 times – an average of every 21.7 seconds, on more than 2,300 mobile intensive care units (MICUs), ambulances and motorbikes across Israel in 2023.

NATIONAL BLOOD BANK

45 blood collection ambulances operate throughout the country.
200 MDA stations in Israel as blood collection centres.
500,000 blood bags collected, processed and distributed to Israeli hospitals every year.

HUMANITARIAN MISSIONS

Nearly 15,000 young volunteers take part in the distribution of food parcels every festival (Tichri pourim Pessah).
150,000 food parcels distributed by the MDA to the most needy every year (Pesach forim Tishri)
40 ambulances requisitioned during the festive season to deliver food parcels to elderly people who are unable to travel.

On average, a call is received at the 101 emergency call centre every 9.5 seconds.

In 2023, the MDA celebrated its 93rd anniversary

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

HUMAN RESOURCES

  • Around 34,500 volunteers, employees, national service men and women and civilians work at the MDA, including 14,490 teenagers.
  • In addition, around 18,000 life guards are active at the MDA.
  • MDA volunteers have invested more than 4,700,000 volunteer hours.
  • The average age of MDA volunteers is 26.
  • The oldest volunteer is a 90-year-old resident of Ness Tziona, and the youngest MDA volunteer is 14.

VEHICLES

Magen David Adom operates 200 monitoring stations and points throughout the country. More than 2,300 MICUs, ambulances and motorbikes operate throughout the country. These include

  • 86 are rapid response vehicles, 60 of which are electric,
  • 47 4×4 vehicles,
  • 16 ATVS,
  • 19 jeep ambulances,
  • 24 multi-victim event vehicles,
  • 14 medical supervisor vehicles,
  • 3 Unimog vehicles,
  • 2 intensive care buses
  • 35 armoured ambulances, intensive care vehicles, blood donation vehicles and command vehicles,
  • 3 electric vehicles for sports grounds,
  • 3 mobile clinics
  • 2 mobile monitoring points.
  • 517 medical motorbikes, including 57 heavy motorbikes, 8 of which are electric medical motorbikes, and 196 electric bicycles.

LAND
The MDA has a unique national command and control truck with the latest technology, and 3 district command and communications vehicles.

SEA
The MDA Sea intensive care ambulance operates on the Sea of Galilee, and a sea ambulance operates on the shores of Eilat, which were launched during the April to October period to provide medical treatment in 183 cases.

AIR
Magen David Adom, in cooperation with Hatzolah-Air, operates an intensive care plane and 3 helicopters equipped with advanced intensive care equipment, which have treated and airlifted 336 sick and injured patients to hospitals throughout the country.

During the “Iron Swords” war, 97 new emergency vehicles were brought into service, including 37 ambulances, 29 MICUs, 16 electric rapid intervention vehicles and 15 emergency motorbikes, 3 of which were electric.

INTERVENTIONS

The MDA’s 101 emergency call centre received 3,314,193 calls in the past year, on average a 101 call is received at the MDA every 9.5 seconds – while the average response time to a 101 call is just one second.

In 2023, MDA emergency vehicles were launched 1,447,561 times – on average a team was dispatched every 21.7 seconds.

In road accidents across the country, MDA EMTs and paramedics treated 59,121 victims.

16,283 pregnant women were evacuated to hospital, 1,062 of whom gave birth with the help of MDA teams at home or on their way to hospital.

During the bathing season, EMTs and MDA paramedics provided medical treatment to 266 adults and children who had been removed from the sea, swimming pools and various water sources after drowning.

TRAINING

MDA teams took part in around 315 field exercises.

410,000 men and women have taken part in CPR and first aid courses over the past year, including around 60,000 through free courses taught by the MDA in bomb shelters as part of community service during the “Iron Swords” war. They have been given tools with which to provide vital first aid in the event of injury or cardiac arrest.

563 young MDA volunteers have been trained in the use of the multi-victim station, and 602 have been qualified as first aid trainers.

NATIONAL BLOOD BANK

This year, 336,456 units of blood were collected by MDA donation teams in blood services at blood drives held across the country, in donation rooms at the MDA and at various IDF bases, an increase of 25% on 2022.38% of blood donors in 2023 were women, an increase of 7% on 2022, while 21.7% of blood donors were new donors.118 002 units were donated by the donation teams from Saturday 7 October 2023 until the end of the calendar year. They were supplied to hospitals and the IDF and saved the lives of thousands of civilians, police and soldiers – some of them inside the combat zones in the Gaza Strip. During the war months, 48.5% of blood donors were women. 31,856 of the blood donors during the war were first-time blood donors.MDA blood services operate 45 blood donation buses, 2 blood donation trailers and 2 blood donation buses, each of which can collect from 5 donors at the same time. In October, the MDA Blood Services moved to the secure blood service building in Kiryat MDA in Ramla and all blood donations were tested for blood type and infectious diseases in the MDA Blood Services laboratories, and were supplied to all hospitals and the IDF.

BREAST MILK BANK

The MDA’s National Mother’s Milk Bank has provided around 2,900 litres of milk to premature babies in need and around 30 infants, who have been orphaned, whose mothers have been kidnapped or injured, or to babies of mothers who have been recruited into the IDF, over the past calendar year. 

In 2023, around 700 new milk donors joined the bank who meet the strictest medical standards to provide the safest milk for premature babies, around 450 of whom joined during the ‘Iron Swords’ war.

WISHAMBULANCE

102 wishes were granted thanks to the MDA’s two Wish ambulances.

DEFIBRILLATORS

The MDA has placed 284 public access defibrillators in 65 communities across the country. Since the public access defibrillation project began, the MDA has placed 1,669 life-saving devices in 506 different communities and towns.