µþĪ²ÑÄ€¸é·¡³§°ÕÄ€±·, hospital (from Persian ²úÄ«³¾Äå°ù “sick,” Pahlavi ·Éŧ³¾Äå°ù, with the suffix denoting place -²õ³ÙÄå²Ô). Both ²úÄ«³¾Äå°ùestÄn and the shorter form ³¾Äå°ù±ð²õ³ÙÄå²Ô entered Arabic, as did various Persian terms for hospital officials, e.g., mehtar(-e) šarÄb-ḵÄna, applied to a head of dispensary (QalqašandÄ«, á¹¢obḥ al-aÊ¿šÄ VI, Cairo, p. 170).
1. Hospitals before the modern period.
The administrative, scientific, and treatment organization of Iranian hospitals, which most probably was continued from the pre-Islamic period, is considered one of the most remarkable achievements in the Islamic East. Although a nonprofessional might be appointed to the nominal direction of such an institution, the ²õÄåÊ¿Å«°ù (Ebn al-Qefá¹Ä«, p. 260), or ³¾´Ç³Ù²¹·É²¹±ô±ôÄ«, the actual hospital administrator (apparently called ³ÙÄ«³¾Äå°ù»åÄå°ù in ḴᵛÄrazm and other places; JorjÄnÄ«, p. 644), was always a physician. The oldest Iranian hospital about which we have some information was that at JondÄ«šÄpÅ«r (earlier BÄ“t Lapaá¹), which, with the attached school of medicine, was founded at an unknown date. According to FerdowsÄ« (&³§³¦²¹°ù´Ç²Ô;Äå³ó-²ÔÄå³¾²¹, Moscow, VII, pp. 252 v. 600), the body of Mani, who was killed on the orders of BahrÄm II (r. 274-93), was suspended in front of the wall of the hospital there. ŠÄpÅ«r II (r. 309-79) is also reported by FerdowsÄ« to have founded a city with a palace and a hospital in ḴūzestÄn (p. 252 v. 565). The hospital of JondÄ«šÄpÅ«r enjoyed great renown, especially during the reign of Ḵosrow II (r. 590, 591-628; Dunlop, p. 219). When the Arabs besieged the city, the inhabitants consented to surrender only on condition that the victors do no damage (BalÄá¸orÄ«, ¹ó´Ç³Ùūḥ, Beirut, 1398/1978, p. 374). The hospital was thus spared. It must have already been known to the Muslims, for ḤÄreṯ b. Kalda, a physician who had been educated there (Ebn AbÄ« Oá¹£aybeÊ¿a, Beirut, II, p. 13), treated one of the Prophet’s companions, at Moḥammad’s own request (Ebn Joljol, p. 124).
Although there must have been some contact between the hospital at JondÄ«šÄpÅ«r and the court of the Omayyads (ʿĪsÄ Bey, p. 63), it was during the time of the Ê¿Abbasid caliph al-Manṣūr (d. 158/775) that an official connection was first established. The caliph summoned JergÄ«s b. JebrÄʾīl, who was director of the hospital, to Baghdad to treat him (Ebn al-Qefá¹Ä«, pp. 109-10). Thereafter the physicians of JondÄ«šÄpÅ«r, especially those belonging to the Christian BoḵtÄ«šÅ«Ê¿ (q.v.) family, gradually moved to Baghdad, and, with the support of the caliphs and their viziers, as well as of the public (JÄḥeẓ, µþ´Çḵa±ôÄåʾ, p. 121), played an important part in the development of Islamic medicine. Nothing is known about the decline of JondÄ«šÄpÅ«r hospital, but its activities continued at least until 255/869, when ŠÄpÅ«r b. Sahl, the last known director, died (Ebn al-NadÄ«m, ed. Tajaddod, p. 355).
Apparently, a large hospital was usually divided into two main sections: an outpatient clinic and an infirmary. After examination, an outpatient would ordinarily be given a prescription, which he would have filled at the hospital’s dispensary (Ebn AbÄ« Oá¹£aybeÊ¿a, Cairo, II, p. 243). Should the physician’s diagnosis call for hospitalization, however, the patient would be referred to the relevant ward. The wards (e.g., those for internal diseases, setting bones, surgery, and ophthalmology; ibid., I, pp. 244, 310) each had a number of physicians and attendants proportional to the number of patients. According to NafÄ«sÄ« (p. 22) physicians ranked at the top of the hierarchy, in each hospital there were further male and female ´Ú²¹°ù°ùÄå&²õ³¦²¹°ù´Ç²Ô;, performing duties similar to those of modern nurses, and below them were mošrefs and ±çÄåʾ±ð³¾s, who seem to have been responsible both for treatment services and for collecting charitable funds (Elgood, p. 182). Other employees, for example, the ward administrator (·É²¹°ìÄ«±ô), the supervisor (²ÔÄåẓe°ù), the comptroller (ḵa³úÄå²Ô²¹»åÄå°ù), and the janitor (»å²¹°ù²úÄå²Ô), also served in hospitals (Ebn al-JawzÄ«, ²Ñ´Ç²Ô³Ù²¹áº“a³¾ VII, p. 112). Furthermore, there was a staff in charge of overseeing the endowments and their use (Ebn AbÄ« Oá¹£aybeÊ¿a, Beirut, II, p, 203).
Hospitals were generally supported by the income from such endowments or by funds donated or bequeathed by amirs, viziers, and other wealthy men. The salaries of physicians and other employees, as well as the costs of treatment, medicines, hospital care, and patients’ food were paid from the same sources. The buildings were usually built in the cleanest parts of town and near the best water supply. They often contained living quarters for physicians and medical students (see, e.g., RašÄ«d-al-DÄ«n, pp. 225, 232).
Indeed, aside from their primary function, hospitals were also the principal centers of medical education and granted diplomas to their graduates. Quite often they were located near madrasas; in fact, most renowned madrasas (e.g., the NeżÄmÄ«ya madrasas of NÄ«šÄpÅ«r, Isfahan, Balḵ, and Baghdad) had hospitals attached to them. Stipends were paid (out of endowment funds) to physicians both for treating patients and for teaching medicine. This close association of the two types of institution suggests the extent to which theoretical medicine and medical practice were interdependent. The same relation persisted until recent times, when ḤÄjj MÄ«rzÄ á¸¤osayn Khan SepahsÄlÄr allocated part of the Madrasa-ye NÄá¹£erÄ« for a hospital (NafÄ«sÄ«, p. 19; see below).
Another development in the history of hospitals was the creation of ³¾²¹á¸¥mÅ«±ô (portable) hospitals, something like modern ambulances. These mobile units, which rendered outstanding service in time of war or epidemic, were staffed by physicians and male nurses and were equipped with pharmacies and medical and surgical instruments, all of which were transported on pack animals (BondÄrÄ« Eá¹£fahÄnÄ«, Cairo, p. 124). The physicians attached to these units were equal in rank to those in stationary hospitals. Mobile hospital units even visited prisons and were sometimes ordered to remote areas to treat people of all classes, whether Muslim or not (NafÄ«sÄ«, p. 21).
Although construction of hospitals was a prime concern in early Islamic Iran, knowledge of the first such hospitals is scanty and the dates uncertain, for these institutions were probably small and simple in organization. They seem to have first captured the attention of writers only after they had been expanded. That was certainly true of the well-known hospital presided over by RÄzÄ«, which can be considered a survival from pre-Islamic times (KarÄ«mÄn, II, p. 362), though no date can be assigned to it. Another hospital of obscure origin was located in Zaranj (Zarang) in SÄ«stÄn; the Saffarid Ê¿Amr b. al-Layṯ (r. 265-88/879-901) built a ²úÄå³úÄå°ù near this hospital and allocated the income to the hospital and the congregational mosque (Eá¹£á¹aḵrÄ«, p. 241). These hospitals seem to have been two of the earliest in Islamic Iran (NajmÄbÄdÄ«, p. 768). The Ê¿AżodÄ« hospital in Shiraz, which was founded and lavishly endowed by the Buyid Ê¿´¡Å¼´Ç»å-²¹±ô-¶Ù²¹·É±ô²¹, formed part of a large madrasa, where medicine, astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics were also taught. Another Buyid, BahÄʾ-al-Dawla, founded a hospital in JorjÄn (Elgood, p. 173), and at about the same time there was in Isfahan a fine hospital, to which Ebn MandÅ«ya Eá¹£fahÄnÄ«, a well-known physician in the 4th/10th century, was attached (Ebn AbÄ« Oá¹£aybeÊ¿a, Cairo, II, p. 22); this hospital was thus also probably an establishment of the Buyid period (NajmÄbÄdÄ«, p. 768).
In the 5th/11th century many hospitals were in operation in Iranian cities. AbÅ« SaÊ¿Ä«d NÄ«šÄbÅ«rÄ«, known as ḴargÅ«š (d. 407/1016), one of the ´Ú´Ç±ç²¹³óÄåʾ and pious men of his time, endowed a hospital in NÄ«šÄpÅ«r (OsnawÄ«, p. 477), perhaps the same one in the garden of which Ḵaá¹Ä«b SamarqandÄ« stayed during his visit to the city in 409/1018 (FÄrsÄ«, p. 214).
ḴᵛÄja NeẓÄm-al-Molk ṬūsÄ«, the renowned Saljuq vizier, also founded a large hospital in NÄ«šÄpÅ«r (SobkÄ«, Ṭa²ú²¹±çÄå³Ù, Cairo2, IV, p. 314), where every day he reportedly gave one thousand dinars as alms (ʿĪsÄ Bey, p. 268, quoting Ebn al-Molaqqen, Ṭa²ú²¹±çÄå³Ù al-šÄfeÊ¿Ä«ya, p. 132). This hospital seems to be the same one visited in 733/1332 by Ebn Baá¹á¹Å«á¹a, who speaks of its Syrian physician, called ŠahyÅ«nÄ« (p. 359). There were several hospitals in ḴᵛÄrazm, the best known being that built by Qoá¹b-al-DÄ«n Moḥammad ḴᵛÄrazmšÄh (r. 490-521/1097-1127; NafÄ«sÄ«, p. 18); EsmÄÊ¿Ä«l JorjÄnÄ«, the author of Ḏaḵīra-ye ḵᵛÄrazmšÄhÄ«, was once director (³ÙÄ«³¾Äå°ù»åÄå°ù) of this hospital (Elgood, p. 192). There was also a hospital in Marv, where ʿĪsÄ b. MÄsa practiced (Ebn al-Bayá¹Är, p. 15). In the 7th/13th century, at Shiraz, capital of the Salghurid atabegs of FÄrs, two large and respected hospitals were founded by Amir Moqarreb-al-DÄ«n MasÊ¿Å«d and Amir Faḵr-al-DÄ«n AbÅ« Bakr, viziers of AbÅ« Bakr b. SaÊ¿d (ZarkÅ«b ŠÄ«rÄzÄ«, p. 84), and a third by AbÅ« Bakr himself (MÄ«rḵᵛÄnd, Tehran, IV, p. 612). The contemporary á¹¢ÄḥebÄ« hospital (dÄr al-šefÄʾ), named after its patron ḴᵛÄja Šams-al-DÄ«n Moḥammad JovaynÄ« á¹¢Äḥeb-e DÄ«vÄn, vizier of ´¡²úÄå±çÄå, was built in Yazd. Each year this patron paid all the expenses of the physicians and patients, and he also endowed the institution with the income from part of a village (JaÊ¿farÄ«, pp. 111-13). Yazd also had another hospital, built by Qotloḡ TorkÄn ḴÄtÅ«n, QarÄ á¸´eá¹Äy queen of KermÄn (NafÄ«sÄ«, p. 18). Still another hospital with its own endowment was built in TermeḠby Abu’l-Ḥasan Moḥammad b. Ḥasan MÄh (Ebn Ḥawqal, II, p. 455). Ebn al-Balḵī mentions a respected hospital at FÄ«rÅ«zÄbÄd in FÄrs (¹óÄå°ù²õ-²ÔÄå³¾²¹, Leiden, 1921, p. 139).
The largest hospital in Iran in the 7th-8th/13th-14th centuries was founded in TabrÄ«z by RašÄ«d-al-DÄ«n Fażl-AllÄh HamadÄnÄ«, ḠÄzÄn Khan’s vizier. It housed numerous wards, a dispensary, and living quarters for physicians and other employees. In the endowment document RašÄ«d-al-DÄ«n provided for the physicians’ training (1971, pp. 184-88). This hospital must have been very large, for RašÄ«d-al-DÄ«n once asked his son JalÄl-al-DÄ«n, who was in Asia Minor, to send 500 mans of various drugs for it (1945, p. 93; cf. Browne, p. 105). The vizier gathered together in this hospital, which was situated in the section of the city that he had built (rabÊ¿-e rašÄ«dÄ«), fifty able physicians from all Islamic countries and assigned to each of them several student assistants. The physicians’ residence was in the á¹¢Äleḥīya district not far from the hospital (1971, p. 232). RašÄ«d-al-DÄ«n also reactivated the languishing hospitals in Shiraz and HamadÄn, assigning an overseer to each one.
Despite these comprehensive efforts, it seems that hospitals declined after the 8th/14th century. Although TÄ«mÅ«r ordered that there should be at least one operational hospital in every city in his dominion (TorbatÄ«, p. 370), decay had set in, and even in the Safavid period hospitals did not regain their former standing. Indeed, though one or two hospitals were open in every large city (despite the statement of Father Raphaël du Mans to the contrary), people turned their backs on them and even called them “death houses” (dÄr al-mawt; Elgood, p. 398). Toward the end of the Safavid period, political and military strife, both internal and external, brought about the total ruin of hospitals in Iran. It was only from the time of the Qajar Fatḥ-Ê¿AlÄ« Shah (r. 1212-50/1797-1834) that the state and the people again turned their attention to the need for hospitals; in consequence, a few hospitals in the old style were established here and there. Beside the hospital built in Tehran by the shah himself (subsequently demolished when BÅ«zarjomehrÄ« Street was built; see NafÄ«sÄ«, p. 3), under NÄá¹£er-al-DÄ«n Shah, ḤÄjj MÄ«rzÄ á¸¤osayn Khan MošÄ«r-al-Dawla SepahsÄlÄr-e Aʿżam set aside one section of the Madrasa-ye NÄá¹£erÄ«, later known as Madrasa-ye SepahsÄlÄr, for a hospital (NafÄ«sÄ«, p. 19). From that time until the foundation of the first modern hospital in Tehran, no hospital is known to have been established in Iran—except those founded by foreign missionary organizations.
2. Modern hospitals.
Just at the time when Iranian hospitals were on the verge of extinction, some European states seeking to establish their influence on the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean founded hospitals in Iranian coastal towns, either outright or through trade and service companies and evangelistic missions. These hospitals, which were small at first and not warmly received by the local people, were a kind of beachhead for European medicine in Iran. They were administered and often subsidized by those who organized them. This pattern continued for some time, even after the establishment of the first Western-style hospital in Tehran, an event that gradually led to foundation of similar institutions in other Iranian cities. In 1284 Š./1905 the direction of some of those hospitals was transferred to the Iranian government; the State Council for Hygiene was established and a code of regulations drawn up, including measures for setting up frontier quarantine posts and a children’s hospital (KomÄ«sÄ«Å«n-e MellÄ«, II, p. 1404). After the creation of the Faculty of Medicine at Tehran University, some hospitals were placed under its control as teaching hospitals. The Ministry of Public Health, established in 1320 Š./1941, assumed the supervision of all frontier quarantine posts. Several medical schools that were subsequently established themselves then founded hospitals and supervised the scientific research conducted in them. In the past quarter-century the private sector has also established hospitals, and medical centers have been founded by physicians in some Iranian cities.
Apart from missionary hospitals (see below), the first modern hospitals in Iran seem to have been two “clean and pleasant” facilities in a hamlet near Port GombrÅ«n (Bandar-e Ê¿AbbÄs), reported in a.d. 1677 by John Fryer, a physician in the service of the East India Company. One of them had been built by a Dutch banker also employed by the company, the other by Germans (Elgood, p. 399). The East India Company, which was rapidly outpacing its rivals for dominance in India and on the Persian Gulf, established quarantine posts and hospitals in many important ports; one example was the small hospital opened in GombrÅ«n about a.d. 1727 under the direction of Dr. Anthony Forbes. The company hospital in Baá¹£ra seems to have been one of the most important; when KarÄ«m Khan Zand decided to attack Baá¹£ra, this hospital was transferred to BÅ«šehr (ibid., p. 341). Later, when the British government took over the company’s role of expanding imperial influence in the region, British diplomatic missions took control of the company hospitals. Toward the end of the 12/18th century, the resident representative of the British government in BÅ«šehr also opened a hospital (Wright, p. 122). The Indo-European Telegraph Co., owned by the British, established some clinics and dispensaries at points along the Persian Gulf. The British government quarantine posts at Iranian ports rendered invaluable services where there was otherwise no hospital or physician at all, for, in addition to performing their prescribed duties, they treated local patients, especially the poor (SadÄ«d-al-Salá¹ana, p. 169). On the northern coastline of Iran the Russians, who were striving to create a zone of influence there, established the first hospital for their sailors in 1228 Š./1849; they also obtained a concession for another hospital, in AstarÄbÄd (TeymÅ«rÄ«, pp. 269, 271).
The establishment of such hospitals, however, did not stimulate any move to emulate them elsewhere in Iran. Although the physician attached to the French general Alfred de Gardane’s mission did open a clinic in the capital under the Qajar Fatḥ-Ê¿AlÄ« Shah (Elgood, p. 441), the real history of modern hospitals in Iran begins with NÄá¹£er-al-DÄ«n Shah. In 1286/1869 the first modern Iranian hospital was built in Tehran by order of Ḥosayn Khan MošÄ«r-al-Dawla, who appointed NÄẓem-al-Aá¹ebbÄʾ NafÄ«sÄ« to supervise construction (NafÄ«sÄ«, p. 20). This hospital, which could accommodate 400 patients and included living quarters for physicians, was erected outside the city walls on a street that subsequently came to be called ḴīÄbÄn-e Marīż-ḵÄna (Hospital Street; EÊ¿temÄd-al-Salá¹ana, II, p. 109). The same Ḥosayn Khan ordered NÄẓem-al-Aá¹ebbÄʾ to build a modern hospital, later called DÄr al-ŠefÄʾ (ḤakÄ«m-al-MamÄlek, p. 259), in Mašhad, where it remained the only one for a long time (NafÄ«sÄ«, p. 20). It has been reported that the Tehran hospital, which was built with German assistance, was originally intended expressly for the army (Wright, pp. 26-27); it was placed under the supervision of Drs. J. E. Polak and J. L. Schlimmer. Later known as the »å²¹·É±ô²¹³ÙÄ« (governmental) and &²õ³¦²¹°ù´Ç²Ô;Äå³ó²¹²Ô&²õ³¦²¹°ù´Ç²Ô;Äå³óÄ« (imperial) hospital, it soon fell into such a sorry condition that it came to be considered a “cemetery for the living” (Serena, p. 135). Twelve years after its foundation the “government hospital” was transferred to civilian use and another one built for the military (Elgood, p. 512). Sometime later Moẓaffar-al-DÄ«n Shah asked Dr. Ilberg, the German embassy physician, to reorganize the “government hospital”; he remained there until November, 1915, when all the diplomatic missions of the Central Powers left Tehran. Dr. LoqmÄn-al-Dawla, private physician to the shah, succeeded Ilberg as director (Elgood, p. 546). After World War I, during which the Russians used part of the building, the hospital was in considerable disarray. In 1919 it was agreed that the British would administer it through a Persian director; they were to supply a British nurse and a subsidy for medical supplies. Dr. A. R. Neligan, the physician of the British legation and Dr. I. Scott, head of the medical staff of the Indo-European Telegraph Company (Wright, loc. cit.), as well as three Iranian physicians, Dr. LesÄn Šams (known as LesÄn-al-ḤokamÄʾ), Dr. MÄ«rzÄ Moḥammad Khan Ê¿AlÄʾī, and Dr. MÅ«sÄ Khan, went to work there under LoqmÄn-al-Dawla’s supervision (Elgood, pp. 546, 548). This hospital soon became known as “the English hospital” (Wright, p. 127).
The hospital was poorly administered, and in 1922, when the political climate in Iran was hostile to British influence, the British government suspended its subsidy and asked the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to take charge of the hospital. The company agreed on condition that the relation of the hospital to Great Britain not be severed entirely, but the Iranian government refused to accept this condition. The oil company nevertheless accepted responsibility, with the proviso that it could halt its subsidy at any time without notice; joint supervision by British and Iranian physicians continued, however (Elgood, p. 554). Renamed SÄ«nÄ in 1319 Š./1940 (NajmÄ«, p. 421), the hospital gradually came entirely under Iranian supervision and is now one of the largest government hospitals in Iran, administered by the Faculty of Medicine of Tehran University.
After the creation of this first state hospital, modern hospitals were gradually established in other cities, with the help of foreign physicians or by individual Iranians. For instance, in addition to the hospital affiliated with the British mission in BÅ«šehr, a new one was established there in 1916 with financial help from local merchants (Wright, p. 127); it was staffed by a British physician and administered by a committee composed of two Iranians and two Englishmen (Elgood, p. 548). In Mašhad, Shah ReÅ¼Ä Hospital was established with German assistance. In Tehran, Dr. LoqmÄn-al-Molk, by then director of the General Department of Public Health, built WazÄ«rÄ« Hospital in 1299-1300 Š./1920-21 after the foundation of the Institut Pasteur-Iran. Subsequently he also expanded and improved hospitals and quarantine facilities in southern ports, establishments that had been run by the British until 1307 Š./1928, when they were turned over to the Iranian government (KomÄ«sÄ«Å«n-e MellÄ«, II, p. 1404).
Following a long-standing custom in Iran, wealthy people took the lead in establishing modern hospitals. In 1315 Š./1936 ḤÄjj Sayyed ReÅ¼Ä FÄ«rÅ«zÄbÄdÄ« built the large and well-equipped BÄ«³¾Äå°ù±ð²õ³ÙÄå²Ô-e FÄ«rÅ«zÄbÄdÄ« in Šahr-e Ray. ḤÄjj Moḥammad-Ḥosayn NamÄzÄ« built a large hospital in Shiraz (Aná¹£ÄrÄ«, IV, p. 190). In 1328 Š./1949 a number of Tehran merchants banded together to found a hospital, named BÄ«³¾Äå°ù±ð²õ³ÙÄå²Ô-e BÄzargÄnÄn (merchants’ hospital). In 1331 Š./1952 ḤÄjj Abu’l-QÄsem Mofarreḥ endowed a hospital in the same city, to be administered by the Ministry of Public Health.
The Iranian government, especially after the creation of the Ministry of Public Health, increased its role in establishing modern hospitals. In 1318 Š./1939 a tuberculosis sanatorium was established in an old royal building in ŠÄhÄbÄd, ŠemÄ«rÄn. It was later expanded, and a large new building was dedicated in 1324 Š./1945 (KomÄ«sÄ«Å«n-e MellÄ«, II, p. 1431). In 1321 Š./1942 the ministry opened in Tehran FÄrÄbÄ«, NajÄt, and ŠefÄʾ hospitals, among the largest in Iran. In 1325 Š./1946 another tuberculosis sanatorium was opened in the EmÄmÄ«ya district of Tehran; it was enlarged in 1337 Š./1958. The Iranian Red Lion and Sun Hospital was opened in 1329 Š./1950 in southern Tehran. After 1336 Š./1957 both general and specialized hospitals were established by the Ministry of Public Health or faculties of medicine in other cities: Shiraz, Mašhad, Isfahan, KermÄn, TabrÄ«z, Urmia, Rašt, SÄrÄ«, and so on, so that now there are many large hospitals in Iranian cities, proportional to the size, geographical location, and economic condition of the population.
The first missionary hospital in Iran, the Misericordia, was built by the Portuguese on the island of Hormoz before it was occupied by allied Iranian and British forces in 1622. It was run by Augustinian friars and rendered many charitable services to the public (Elgood, p. 512). American, British, Russian, and French missions also established hospitals in Iran.
American missions. American missionary work in Iran began with the arrival of Dr. A. Grant in Urmia in 1835, but it seems that the first hospital was founded only in 1882, when Dr. Joseph Cochran established Westminster Hospital in Urmia, where he also taught medicine (Komīsīūn-e Mellī, II, p. 1449). In 1931 the same mission erected another hospital in the same city in his memory (Tamaddon, p. 100). American missionary medical services were initiated in Tehran in 1881 by Dr. W. Torrence; he was joined a few years later by Dr. Mary Smith (Komīsīūn-e Mellī, II, p. 1450). The first American hospital and medical school in Tehran were inaugurated in 1893 and continued to function until 1941, when they were closed because of the shortage of physicians during World War II (ibid.); they were later reopened and continued operating until a few years ago.
Other American mission hospitals were founded in HamadÄn (by Dr. Funk in 1903; expanded in 1916), in TabrÄ«z (by Dr. Lamme in 1913), in Mašhad (by Dr. Cook in 1916), and in Rašt (by Dr. J. D. Frame in 1923). Dr. B. W. Stead initiated medical services in KermÄnšÄh in 1905; he established a general clinic there in 1912 and a small hospital in 1922. More recently Hope clinic was founded in Tehran and Good Shepherd clinic in Rašt, both intended to serve the poor. American missionaries were also actively involved in the establishment of leprosy hospitals in Mašhad and TabrÄ«z (KomÄ«sÄ«Å«n-e MellÄ«, II, p. 1451).
British missions. Following the British government’s arrival in southern Iran a mission affiliated with the London Society of Christian Missionaries initiated medical services there, concentrating on towns and areas where no modern medicine existed. Separate hospitals for men and women in Isfahan, KermÄn, Yazd, and Shiraz were the first such establishments in those cities and remained the only ones for many years (Wright, pp. 118, 122). The Christian Missionaries’ Center was installed in very large premises in JolfÄ, Isfahan, and in 1896 a hospital and dispensary were opened there. Subsequently a women’s hospital was founded and placed under the supervision of Dr. Emmelina Stewart. Eventually the mission sponsored new maternity hospitals in Yazd (1898), KermÄn (1901), and Shiraz (1924, with funds from ḤÄjj Moḥammad-Ḥosayn NÄmÄzÄ«). The one in Shiraz was subsequently converted into a large general hospital with the cooperation of the Indo-European Telegraph Company, Dr. Stewart, and Miss E. A. Thomas (see “Current Topics,” The Moslem World 14, 1924, p. 182). These mission hospitals do not seem to have been welcomed at first, however; in Isfahan, no such institution was permitted in any quarter inhabited entirely by Muslims. At last, in 1902, Dr. D. W. Karr was able to open a clinic in the city, and a rich merchant granted a large piece of land for construction of a hospital with separate facilities for men and women (Elgood, p. 535). This hospital also engaged in medical education and was later allowed by the Iranian government to issue certificates of medical proficiency. In 1914 the government allocated some funds for the Isfahan hospital (ibid.). The Seventh-Day Adventists’ mission was also active in providing medical services. Early in the 1920s the English Dr. Hargreaves opened a clinic in TabrÄ«z; it remained open until 1928. In the latter year the mission founded a hospital in ArÄk and later clinics in Tehran and Isfahan.
Russian missions. The Russian Orthodox mission seems not to have founded many hospitals. The only information available is that some time after the occupation of Urmia by tsarist troops early in World War I, the consul Nikitine arranged for a sanitary team to visit and help to fight the cholera epidemic of 1915; the leader of that team, Dr. A. Kach, also set up a hospital there. It was the only one sponsored by the Orthodox mission (Tamaddon, pp. 243-44). In 1372/1934 the Soviets opened a hospital in Tehran; it was closed in 1938 but reopened in 1943, at the request of the Iranian government. In 1947 it was placed under the supervision of the Union of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the USSR and, finally, in 1362 Š./1983 turned over to Tehran University. After it reopened in 1943, separate branches were established in TabrÄ«z, Urmia, Rašt, and Mašhad (personal research).
French mission. The Sisters of Charity founded a clinic in Urmia in 1925, another in Isfahan in 1935, and a medical center adjoining Jeanne d’Arc School in Tehran in the same year. They also worked in state hospitals in some cities (Ī°ùÄå²Ô&²õ³¦²¹°ù´Ç²Ô;²¹³ó°ù II, p. 1451). In the early 1960s the Sisters started the construction of a large hospital, Notre Dame Fatima, in Tehran; it is still operating under the same name (personal research, spring 1366 Š./1987).
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(á¹¢Ädeq SajjÄdÄ«)
Originally Published: December 15, 1989
Last Updated: December 15, 1989
This article is available in print.
Vol. IV, Fasc. 3, pp. 257-261
