Bar-Ilan University opened Israel’s first medical school in the northern region of the country, in Safed, this week. Seen as a national priority, the launch is in response to a nationwide shortage of physicians and the need to upgrade medical services and infrastructure in the north.
It is the first medical school opening in the country in 40 years and, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it is “the only one in Israel which allows those who began their studies abroad to return home to complete them.”
The first class has 124 Jewish and Arab students, 54 of whom began their medical studies abroad; they are enrolled as part of a nationwide effort Bar-Ilan is leading to reverse the “brain drain” phenomenon affecting the country.
Shown above, two youngsters from Safed present the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Bar-Ilan University President Professor Moshe Kaveh with the scissors at the Oct. 30 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
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