INTRODUCTION
The word Hospital has been derived from the Latin word ‘HOSPICES’ which means a host or guest’ .The
words Hotel and hostel are also derived from the same word. From its gradual evolution through the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Hospital both in the eastern and the western world has come
of age only recently during the past 50 years or so- the concept of today’s hospital contrasting
fundamentally from the old idea of a hospital as no more than a place for the treatment of the sick.
Currently, the hospitals are not just seen as curative centres, but also as a place that actually promote
healthful living. The general public would prefer to visit hospital that offers many facilities rather than
going to a hospital that only caters to the patient care. With this concept, the image of the hospitals
gradually changed for the better and they are being reoriented from just being the centers for medical
care and treatment to a facility providing comprehensive promotive, preventive, curative and
rehabilitation services.
DEFINITION OF HOSPITAL
Hospitals are the institution providing medical and surgical treatment and nursing care for any ill or
injured people. “An INSTITUTION, that makes use of PHYSICIANS, SURGEONS & team of TECHNICAL
STAFF, in order to provide facilities for DIAGNOSIS, THERAPY, REHABILITATION, PREVENTION,
EDUCATION & RESEARCH ” Professionally & technically skilled people apply their knowledge and skill
with the help of complicated equipment and appliances - to provide quality care for the patient. Hospital
is a place for the diagnosis and treatment of human ills and restoration of health and well-beings of
those temporarily deprived of these.
WHO definition
“A Hospital is an integral part of a medical and social organization, the function of which is to provide for
the population complete health care, both curative and preventive, and whose outpatient services reach
out to the family and its home environment, the hospital is also a center for the training of health
workers and bio-social research.”
HOSPITAL EVOLUTION: GLOBAL SCENARIO
• MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE (6000 YRS AGO)
• Ancient region of south west Asia known as Aesopotamia
• Priests , doctors were the ruling class with great political power
• First recorded doctor’s prescription
• Hammurabi’s code of law provides the first record of regulation of doctor’s practice as well as the
regulation of their fees.
GREEK CIVILISATION & ROMAN CIVILISATION460 - 136 BC
Aesculapius (1200BC) was an early leader Hygeia and Panacea (goddess of health & Goddess of
Medicine) Curative & preventive medicine Hippocrates (460-370 BC) – father of medicine (refer notes)
Temples as shelter & sustenance to the sick.
The word Hospital has been derived from the Latin word ‘HOSPICES’ which means a host or guest’ .The
words Hotel and hostel are also derived from the same word. From its gradual evolution through the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Hospital both in the eastern and the western world has come
of age only recently during the past 50 years or so- the concept of today’s hospital contrasting
fundamentally from the old idea of a hospital as no more than a place for the treatment of the sick.
Currently, the hospitals are not just seen as curative centres, but also as a place that actually promote
healthful living. The general public would prefer to visit hospital that offers many facilities rather than
going to a hospital that only caters to the patient care. With this concept, the image of the hospitals
gradually changed for the better and they are being reoriented from just being the centers for medical
care and treatment to a facility providing comprehensive promotive, preventive, curative and
rehabilitation services.
DEFINITION OF HOSPITAL
Hospitals are the institution providing medical and surgical treatment and nursing care for any ill or
injured people. “An INSTITUTION, that makes use of PHYSICIANS, SURGEONS & team of TECHNICAL
STAFF, in order to provide facilities for DIAGNOSIS, THERAPY, REHABILITATION, PREVENTION,
EDUCATION & RESEARCH ” Professionally & technically skilled people apply their knowledge and skill
with the help of complicated equipment and appliances - to provide quality care for the patient. Hospital
is a place for the diagnosis and treatment of human ills and restoration of health and well-beings of
those temporarily deprived of these.
WHO definition
“A Hospital is an integral part of a medical and social organization, the function of which is to provide for
the population complete health care, both curative and preventive, and whose outpatient services reach
out to the family and its home environment, the hospital is also a center for the training of health
workers and bio-social research.”
HOSPITAL EVOLUTION: GLOBAL SCENARIO
• MESOPOTAMIAN MEDICINE (6000 YRS AGO)
• Ancient region of south west Asia known as Aesopotamia
• Priests , doctors were the ruling class with great political power
• First recorded doctor’s prescription
• Hammurabi’s code of law provides the first record of regulation of doctor’s practice as well as the
regulation of their fees.
GREEK CIVILISATION & ROMAN CIVILISATION460 - 136 BC
Aesculapius (1200BC) was an early leader Hygeia and Panacea (goddess of health & Goddess of
Medicine) Curative & preventive medicine Hippocrates (460-370 BC) – father of medicine (refer notes)
Temples as shelter & sustenance to the sick.
