The Hôtel-Dieu de France is one of the three leading Lebanese medical centers. It is located on Alfred Naccache Boulevard in Beirut, and is the oldest active French

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 ...

in the city. ''

Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

'', literally "hostel of God," is an archaic French term for hospital, referring to the origins of hospitals as religious institutions.

History

The origins of the Hôtel-Dieu de France date back to 1883 when an agreement between the

French Government The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...

and the Jesuits gave birth to the Faculty of Medicine (FFM) in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. It continued to grow until 1975, when it was severely damaged and partially destroyed during Lebanon Civil War and continued its development and expansion at the end of the conflict. In 1984 the hospital was formally assigned to the

Saint Joseph University Saint Joseph University of Beirut ( French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', abbreviated to and commonly known as "USJ") is a private Catholic research university located in Beirut, Lebanon, which was founded in 1875 by French Jesuit mis ...

which is responsible to a direct management, remaining a property of the French Government.
accessed August 24, 2011 1888: Creation of the Faculty of Medicine of Saint Joseph University, following an agreement signed between the French government and the Society of Jesus, Jésuites Fathers. However, the faculty lacked a hospital for practice. 1911: Under the leadership of R.P. Lucien Catin s.j. and on the initiative of the newspaper "The Times", the SPP in France, Syndicat de la Presse Parisienne launched a subscription to build the hospital on a land purchased by the French Government. 1914-1918:

World War One World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out and construction projects were immediately frozen. 1922: General Giraud laid the foundation stone and the construction started in 1923: General Weygand, his successor, inaugurated Hôtel-Dieu de France, which opened its doors and admitted its very first patient. 1965: Agreement between the Hospital and the Sisters of Saint Coeurs delegating them the task of nursing administration. 1984: The hospital remained the property of the French State but its management was transferred to the Saint-Joseph University. 2001: Inauguration of the central building which housed new hospitalization facilities and departments. 2005: Inauguration of the private clinics’ tower. 2010: Under the leadership of R.P.

René Chamussy René Chamussy (15 December 1936 – 27 October 2016) was a French-Lebanese Jesuit priest and academic administrator. He was the author of several books about Lebanon. He served as the rector of the Saint Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon, from ...

s.j., Rector of Saint-Joseph University, the hospital decided to adopt a new governance system to meet its challenges in a world of health permanently changing and growing. The HDF 2020, a ten-year project was established.

References

External links

Hôtel-Dieu de France official site

Hôtel-Dieu de France official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel-Dieu de France Hospitals in Lebanon Hospital buildings completed in 1923 Buildings and structures in Beirut 1883 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Hospitals established in 1883 19th-century establishments in Ottoman Syria