Establishment of the Military Medical Service

In November 1947, during the fateful United Nations deliberations at Lake Success, New York, on the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, the department heads at Beilinson Hospital resigned. In January 1948, the Military Medical Service (MS) was founded under the leadership of Dr. Chaim Sheba. The newly-established medical framework immediately hired the unemployed Beilinson doctors to fulfill key positions in the administration and organization of the MS. In addition to the department heads who had left Beilinson, Dr. Sheba also recruited Dr. Padeh, one of the regional physicians of Kupat Holim.

Dr. Sheba's appointment as head of the MS was not a given. Three months prior, in September 1947, the national committee, the Haganah, and the Federation of Labor's executive committee had established a Supreme Medical Committee (Vaada Refuit Elyona LeShaat Cherum) for the duration of the emergency to prepare the Yishuv for events in the coming year-both declaration of Israel's independence and the onslaught of Arab armies in its wake. The first decision of the Supreme Medical Committee was to establish temporary regional hospitals in the Negev and the Galilee. The committee approached Kupat Holim with a request that the sick fund assist this effort by providing both equipment and organization on a broad scope. The sick fund turned down the request citing Kupat Holim's own economic distress and the necessity of organizing its own house for the approaching conflict.