Importance of the Public Hospital

One of the most important institutions in urban life today is the one that deals with the health of the most vulnerable. The public hospital is the seat of treatment and attention in health for people who cannot count on a paid or private service.

In many countries, like Argentina for example, public hospitals are the headquarters of the most serious and best-prepared professionals, even more than in the private sector. This is due to the medical tradition that exists in the country.

When and why did the public hospital emerge? A reference that is not timeless

To better understand the importance and value that the public hospital fulfills in current societies, we must point out that it has not always existed. In this sense, its appearance is directly related to the phenomenon of cities and urban growth since the late eighteenth century. The Industrial Revolution and the population increase in cities around the world also caused diseases, lack of hygiene, deaths and the contagion of all kinds of illnesses to grow.

The quality of life was not good and along with the hospitals other concepts closely related to the responsibility of the State: public hygiene, lighting and sweeping or garbage collection. Public hospitals were then created as centers from which to provide health care to the whole of the population. Here it is important to take into account that until then the only ones who had health care were the powerful sectors that could pay for it.

The relevance of an institution that despite everything is still standing

Despite the fact that in the world in general phenomena such as health and education have been mostly privatized, There are still places where public care is provided for those sectors of the population that cannot access such right. Thus, public hospitals manage a balanced level of health for all those who cannot pay a prepaid health or social work, who do not have a job, a family that supports them or even resources.

In addition to attending to all the specialties, the investigation and constant preparation, which is why they are often the place from which new techniques, medical discoveries or modernizations to different areas come out.

The main problem with these spaces may have to do with the lack of resources, with the lack of maintenance and with the abundance of people who need to be treated, which slows down and worsens care in general. However, they are spaces of constant help and care for those who need it most.

Images: Fotolia. Pongmoji – Lydie