The Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires is a private

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, capital of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It has 750 beds and serves around 2,000 inpatients per month. It has 23 medical centers distributed across the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. Its main facilities cover a surface area of 78,000 m² (850,000 ft²). The hospital treats both private patients and those derived by

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

. It also provides its own

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

plan, being the most important pre-paid healthcare service in Argentina, with about 150,000 clients.

The first hospital

The hospital was originally an initiative of a commission formed by distinguished members of the numerous

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

community of the city. Its

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...

was laid on March 12, 1854, on a tract of land donated by a priest, Father José Arata. Count Giovanni Battista Albini of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

contributed in the name of King Vittorio Emanuele I with the sum of 45,000

peso The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the Dollar sign, same sign, "$", as many currencies na ...

s. The construction was nevertheless delayed due to lack of funding, until in 1858 it was resumed by the association ''Unione e Benevolenza''. The hospital was almost finished in 1865, when the national government asked that it be set aside to treat wounded

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian soldiers of the

Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadlies ...

. In 1867 the works were resumed, only to be stopped once again by an

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

, which prompted the government of the city of Buenos Aires to requisition its services until 1869. It was employed to treat soldiers again until the end of the war in 1870, and then in 1871 to house

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

patients. The hospital was finally inaugurated on December 8, 1872.

The second hospital

The management of the hospital struck agreements with philanthropic associations for the attention of other immigrants besides the Italian community, and in time the facilities proved too small. A campaign was started to obtain funds from the public in order to expand them. In 1888 the government of Buenos Aires asked for it to be moved. On December 15, 1889, the foundation stone of the new ''Hospital Italiano'' was laid, on a city block delimited by Gascón, Potosí, Palestina and Perón streets, in the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Almagro Almagro () may refer to: People *Diego de Almagro (1475–1538), Spanish explorer *Diego Almagro II (1520–1542), assassin of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro *Luis Almagro (born 1963), Uruguayan lawyer, diplomat and politician *Nicolás ...

. The ceremony was attended by Elisa F. de Juárez Celman, wife of then-President

Miguel Juárez Celman --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disam ...

, and a representative of King

Umberto I of Italy Umberto I ( it, Umberto Rainerio Carlo Emanuele Giovanni Maria Ferdinando Eugenio di Savoia; 14 March 1844 – 29 July 1900) was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination on 29 July 1900. Umberto's reign saw Italy attempt colo ...

; the new building was inaugurated on December 21, 1901. In 1903 the

Nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

School was installed, and in 1905 the hospital additionally became a medicine and

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

school. A new building (the ''Policlínico'') was inaugurated on September 20, 1913.

Notable patients who have been in the hospital

Antonio di Benedetto Antonio di Benedetto (2 November 1922 – 10 October 1986) was an Argentine novelist, short story writer and journalist. Career Di Benedetto began writing and publishing stories in his adolescence, inspired by the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky an ...

, died in 1986. *

José Pampuro José Juan Bautista Pampuro (28 December 1949 – 21 January 2021) was an Argentine politician. He was a member of the Justicialist Party, a Defense Minister and a senator for Buenos Aires Province. From 2006 to 2011 he served as the Provisio ...

, died in 2021.

Notes

References

External links