Our current Children's Hospital measures a mere 8,500 sq m, with beds distributed 4-5 per room among only 27 rooms; for lack of an alternative, corridors are used as waiting rooms and as open storage space for medical supplies. Construction of the 9-story, 15,000 sq m Ruth (Rappaport) Children's Hospital will provide improved physical and social conditions commensurate with Rambam pediatricians' delivery of the highest quality medical care to the approximately 600,000 youngsters ages 0-18 who live in metropolitan Haifa and throughout northern Israel. Seven pediatric departments and units (subspecialties) still require large-scale funding of their own.