Road set to improve hospital access

Haifa's Rambam Hospital has released plans that will see all its one- and two-story buildings along the Bat Galim beachfront pulled down to make way for a 1.5-kilometer road around the shore, reports www.mynet.co.il. The road, which will run from the naval training base to Hof Hashaket, is expected to create quicker and easier access to the hospital from the Bat Galim neighborhood and from the helicopter landing pad adjacent to the beach, while enabling recovering patients to stroll to and along the beach in safety. According to the report, the hospital is investing "millions of shekels" in developing the road, which will contain two electronically monitored entrance gates to the hospital. A spokesman said the road would contain four lanes, two in each direction, and would provide access to a new hospital car park. The spokesman said the road would provide quicker and easier access to the new protected emergency room and operating theaters being built at the hospital as part of its current major renovation, as well as enabling recovering patients who wished to take a stroll to reach the beach in safety.