History of Hospitals in the Islamic World

Islamic world carries the history of hospitals as it started way back as early as the eighth century. During this era, building hospitals in the Islamic regions was by rulers as well as the individuals. The word hospital means ‘a guest’ in Latin. The hospitals were set up for a particular physician or an eminent doctor. Promotion of Efficiencies in hospitals was due to the contribution from the Islamic medicinal. Towards the eighth century, hospitals in the major Islamic cities became the most commonly known institutions. Establishment of the first hospitals took place in the Islamic world. Bagdad was the first major city to have a hospital and other cities in the Islamic world followed suit. Towards the end of the ninth century, more than thirty hospitals were established in the Islamic territories. Between the eighth century and fifteenth century, there are many factors that promoted the well-being of hospitals both in the Islamic world to the spread to the western world. This paper will discuss the factors that led to medical knowledge spreading to the entire European world.

Between the eighth century and the thirteenth century, the Arabic-Islamic science in biometric went through a developing process that was remarkable. There was an achievement in intellectual knowledge in the region then spread to the western countries. It influenced the medical and education with a significant margin. The origin of the scientific glory of the Arabic countries was retrieved from the peninsula of Arabian back in seventh century C.E. There were significant developments that the Islamic medicine went through during the time (Falagas 2006).

 Most of the physicians in the Islamic world became famous in the west hence regarded as philosophers as well as alchemists. The shaping future of the medicine depended on the three scholars of the Muslim world. For instance, Rhazes is seen as one of the most successful physicians in the territories of the Islamic nations (Castiglioni and Krumbhaar 1941). Up to date, he is referred to be the everlasting great doctor as he was the author of not less than two hundred philosophical and medical treatises. He was the head of the Baghdad hospital, and he was the first person globally to deliver precise smallpox description and its measures to prevent it. Other physicians took the observations of Rhazes and started to study and understand the natural causes of the spread of infectious diseases (Cairns et al. 2001).

Abulcasis also known as the father of surgery had introduced the utility of catgut and cotton. He also explained the extra-uterine pregnancy, breast cancer, and hemophilic sex related inheritance. Avicenna comes up with the differential meningitis from neurologically based disease. It was describing the viral disease anthrax and tuberculosis. He also brought in the drug instillation of the urethra. He outlined the importance of maintaining high hygienic standards, dietetic and professional patient approach. Avenzoar gave a description of the pericarditis, pharynx paralysis, and mediastinitis as well as addressing the vital requirements of drugs in the human body. Lastly, Ibn-Nafis dealt with the research of the pulmonary circulation system, and he addressed the issues regarding it (Falagas 2006). It later promoted the medical practice and training in the western countries. Scholars in the Arab regions enhanced their experience as they referred to the ancient manuscripts synthesizing their knowledge. All medical related fields were apparently progressing as the need for more and more research arose to curb diseases. The categories of the medical fields included surgery, orthopedics, urology, cardiology, neurology, hygiene among others.    

At that time, the Arab world developed hospitals known as Bimaristans. The development of hospitals had been one of the achievements of the Golden Age based on the Islamic medicinal. These organized institutions were under the control of physicians. All the patients attended in those facilities were treated equally without discrimination. For the sake of distant areas and in the battlefield, there were mobile hospitals meant to accommodate for those people. The most recognized hospital was that in Baghdad and was established back in 982 C.E. The main reason for making these Islamic Bimaristans was to take good care of chronically affected patients. They were to cater for patients as the blind and the patients who suffered from leprosy. Treatment administration to leprosy patients was for free.

The Bimaristan system followed the rules to the latter headed by the physicians in the Islamic world. It promoted the patients welfare according to the medical treatment rules. The Bimaristans facilitated teaching the practitioner graduates on care in the successful treatment of a patient. The Islamic world Bimaristans followed all technical rules. The medical work of the Bimaristan executed in a diagnostic perspective of treatment prescription and definition of the disease. Inspection of the Bimaristan was vital as it is the case today. The assurance of Bimaristan of continuous operations as there existed a strict way that the work was taken seriously with high administrative, scientific, and technical competence. Back in the year 1248, an 800 bed capacity hospital was built in Cairo Egypt. It provided Muslim and Christian patients a place of worship i.e. a mosque and a chapel respectively. There was no discrimination in admitting patients regardless of their color, race, or religion. For the case of inpatients, there was no time limiting as long as the patient recovered. A patient was given clothes and money upon discharge (The Origin of Bimaristans in Islamic Medical History, 2015).

The government was fully responsible for all the operations and maintenance of the Bimaristans. There was the establishment of medical schools in the Arab world that adopted two ways of training the physicians. One way was the theoretical method and the other was conducting a practical session that was in the Bimaristans where students could accompany the doctor in charge to observe and examine the patient. They could then apply for an exam as they took an oath and were certified to work as professional doctors. Later in the fifteenth century, deterioration of the many major hospitals was experienced as the science and medicine of the Islamic was hit with a period of declination (Castiglioni and Krumbhaar 1941).   

In conclusion, the first hospitals were built in the Islamic world between the eighth and the fifteenth century. Bagdad is the first among many cities that built a hospital in the history of hospitals. The spread of hospitals originated forms the Arab world to the western world. The European scholars embraced the Islamic world medicine hence emulated it and as a consequence the range of medicine and hospitals to the western world. There are factors that promoted the spread of hospitals and  the knowledge of Islamic medicine to the other countries in the western region.  European scholars borrowed the knowledge from their counterparts in the Islamic world. The scholars from the Islamic world were milestones ahead as they had understood treating diseases and injuries. As a matter of fact, the knowledge spread intensified in Europe as scientists fled Islamic regions following the collapse of the Islamic medicine dominion. The Europeans were impressed with the advanced techniques adopted by the Islamic physicians to cure injuries and lessen the effect of diseases. As the knowledge of medicine was widespread, hospitals were established in the European healthcare sector. The increase in hospitals has ever since been spreading to even the third world countries. The various Islamic world scholars had given the present day scholars an eye opener to the diseases present in the world. They took the initiative of describing the various causes and giving the remedy. The medicine scientists of today use the basic principles of the Islamic world scholars.   

References

Cairns, Jo, Denis Lawton, Roy Gardner, David Coulby, and Crispin Jones. 2001. Values, Culture, And Education. London: Kogan Page.

Castiglioni, Arturo, and E. B Krumbhaar. 1941. A History Of Medicine. New York: A.A. Knopf.

Falagas, M. E. 2006. ‘Arab Science In The Golden Age (750-1258 C.E.) And Today’. The FASEB Journal 20 (10): 1581-1586. doi:10.1096/fj.06-0803ufm.

The Origin Of Bimaristans In Islamic Medical History. 2015. Ebook. 1st ed.