Saint Lazarus hospital of Granada: 470 years of history, health and life of hospital lepers

Abstract

The Saint Lazarus Hospital was founded. Poverty and diseases were seen as a problem of public and social order and medical assistance as a state’s task. However, the Church still kept an important role. The aim of this study is to present a general overview of the Saint Lazarus Hospital of Granada, from its beginning to its end, and to describe the lives of lepers in the hospital, the organization of health care as well as the role of nurses. The material and methods used in this study include an exhaustive bibliography of electronic resources and books. The method consists of gathering documents published from 1996 to 2010, taking into account variables such as the opening date, its demolition, social and historical context of leprosy, medical assistance and the lives of patients. The main conclusions are: - The hospital was the only hospital founded in Granada in the sixteenth century which took care of lepers and aimed at reducing the spread of the disease. - The main figure of the medical assistance was the permanent doctor and the nurses.

Keywords

• hospital san lázaro
• leprosos
• historia
• enfermería