Bellvitge Hospital is a public, university, research and innovative hospital. With 5,200 expert and committed professionals, it is the local hospital for the citizens of L'Hospitalet and El Prat del Llobregat, and a reference center of maximum complexity for 2 million people, the entire southern axis of Catalonia. It belongs to the Catalan Health Institute. With 37,803 hospital admissions, 20,734 major surgery operations, 327,152 visits to external consultations and 104,627 emergencies treated in the last year, it is without a doubt one of the largest reference hospitals in the country.
Now fifty years ago, on November 8, 1972, it was inaugurated under the name Ciudad Sanitaria de la Seguridad Social Príncipes de España. As it could not be otherwise, its birth and evolution have always been closely related to the progress of medicine and technology and also to the political, economic and social context of each moment. As a hospital created during the final years of the Franco regime, it initially had a structure and direction characteristic of the rigid administration of the time. Afterwards, he was one of the many protagonists of the Transition due to the importance of some labor protests, which acquired an inevitable political dimension. With the approval of the statute of autonomy, the hospital was transferred to the Generalitat.
The economic dynamism of the eighties helped its professionals achieve some milestones of excellence that are still remembered today. Around it, other healthcare, teaching and research institutions were established that began to shape a highly relevant biomedical hub. After the Olympic Games - during which it was the reference health center for the Baix Llobregat Olympic sub-sites -, the recession slowed down the growth of the hospital. But, once the crisis was over, he was able to undertake an ambitious renovation of the infrastructure that included a new building for external consultations. A second crisis placed the hospital at the center of citizen demands in defense of public health. Then came the techno-surgical building, which housed the emergency rooms, operating theatres, intensive care and other units and services. Since then, it has continued to grow with a focus on innovation, networking and improving the patient experience. The recent covid-19 pandemic has obviously also had a very important impact on the hospital.
With the invaluable help of photography, a resource that is always very present and valued in this hospital, we invite you to travel through fifty moments in the center's history, alongside fifty significant moments in the history of our country and the world.
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