San Lazaro Hospital – a historic heritage

According to a news report, the Department of Health may be forced to close some of their biggest hospitals because of delays in the release of their current budget plus the report that their 2003 budget will be reduced by P575 million. If the release of their current allocation continues and their 2003 budget is reduced, they will have no recourse but close some of their biggest hospitals. Among them is San Lazaro Hospital.

Tending the sick is one of the seven corporal acts of mercy and it is not surprising that the Church had two feasts for the ailing. The Sunday before Lent was Domingo de Lazaro; the Sunday after Easter was the Viatico Publico. Most Spanish monasteries in the Philippines had an infirmary, a pharmacy and a garden with medicinal plants. But the first two hospitals in the Philippines were established by the Fran-ciscans as early as 1577: one for the Spanish soldiers; the other for the indigenous population. Seventeen years later, a secular priest named Juan Fernandez de Leon organized the famous Hermandad de la Misericordia that undertook the full support of both institutions. No one remembers the name Juan Fernandez de Leon, but he was the eremite that gave the district of Ermita its name. De Leon the eremite secluded himself there. And the two institutions he supported are now the San Juan de Dios and San Lazaro Hospitals.

Before the war, we lived in the district of Santa Cruz and annually we celebrated Domingo de Lazaro at the San Lazaro hospital. The whole hospital was given a fiesta atmosphere all the way down to the sick wards. The celebration consisted of devotees who, as a thanksgiving for their recovery from a past illness, visit the hospital during the fiesta to console the patients and help them with in-cash-or-in-kind contributions. They always came in droves and were mainly former patients of San Lazaro themselves. The chamber of sickness has always been a chapel of devotion as well. It was a usual sight to see notaries tossing coins in as many hospital beds as they could. We also recall the vendors outside who were usually selling anise sprigs or katydids caged in bamboo.

There is another historical incident connected with San Lazaro hospital. Fr. Pedro Bautista who founded the Holy Spirit Hospital in Cavite and laid the groundwork for the Holy Waters Hospital at Los Baños, was also the leader of the protomartyrs of Japan and is now San Pedro Bautista, Patron of Ambassadors. When he was still in the Philippines, the Tokugawa Shogunate sent him a boat with 134 Japanese lepers and a note saying, "If it is converts you want, begin with these." The "converted Christians" were all admitted to San Lazaro hospital.

In the 17th century, outside of Europe, no country had better medical provisions for the poor than the Philippines and Latin America.

San Lazaro is much more than a hospital. It is part of Philippine history.