JERUSALEM, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Israel will invest 900 million new shekels (243 million U.S. dollars) in digital health as part of a national program, the Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday.
A total of 60 million new shekels will be invested in trial pilots over the next three years, half this amount in the coming year.
The program is designed to promote the entry of innovative technologies into the Israeli health system, to create a quality medical information infrastructure and to transform the digital health industry into a national growth engine.
As part of the program, a first meeting will be held next week in the northern city of Haifa, to connect start-ups and representatives of the Israeli health system, including hospital directors. Later in the year, similar meetings will be held throughout the country.
At the meetings, health organizations will present their challenges and needs, and the start-ups will offer solutions with new technologies.
At each meeting there will also be an exhibition in which companies will demonstrate their technologies.
Hospitals in Israel have already expressed interest in new technologies for various purposes, such as preventing infections and deciphering imaging tests.
