A New Life Growing in San Juan de Dios Hospital

A hospital building, behind growing trees.

The hospital's church.

San Juan de Dios Hospital, on Calle 1 and Carrera 10 in south-central Bogotá, holds a legendary status in Colombia's medical history. Its roots reach back to the 16th century, and some of the country's most accomplished doctors did their internships there.

But, amid financial problems, the hospital was shut down in 2001. Since then, it has been the center of controversy, as citizens groups and some politicians called for its reopening, laid-off employees lived in its buildings, demanding back pay, and its structures deteriorated.

Mayor Gustavo Petro supported the hospital's renovation and reopening - despite the huge cost - but did nothing. Under Mayor Peñalosa, two small sections of the hospital have been turned into emergency medical centers for ambulatory patients.

Meanwhile, the rest of the buildings continue deteriorating, and the trees keep growing, turning the hospital grounds into a kind of urban forest interspersed with decaying buildings, very possibly haunted.

San Juan de Dios's long limbo is nothing but a tragedy for Bogotá: for sick patients who suffer thru long waits for treatments, and for the hospital's neighbors, for whom its campus could provide much-needed green space - if only visitors were allowed in.

An urban forest.

A wheelchair access ramp for patients who never come.

The front of the building, a small part of which is in use.

Wouldn't this make a nice park, or medical museum?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

San Juan de Dios Hospital: Neither God nor Money

Trying to save San Juan de Dios Hospital.

The decaying San Juan de Dios Hospital (Photo: W Radio).

These people on Plaza Bolivar this morning were demanding the reopening of the San Juan de Dios Hospital, located in south-central Bogotá.

The hospital dates from 1723 (according to Wikipedia) or even 1630 (according to this book by the National University), altho it moved to its present location on Calle 1 and Carrera 10 in 1926. San Juan de Dios is a landmark in Colombian medicine, having played an important role in research on malaria and other illnesses, as well as immunology, care of premature infants and plastic surgery. As the National University's training hospital, San Juan de Dios trained generations of Colombian doctors and nurses.

But in 2000 the Pastrana administration shut the hospital, saying that repairing and operating it cost too much. According to today's demonstrators, some 1,200 hospital employees lost their jobs, and many of them are still owed back pay and benefits. After the hospital's closing, some employees continued living on its grounds in a sort of long-term strike for benefits.

Mayor Gustavo Petro has promised to reopen the storied but decayed institution. But critics say the cost is too great and the money could be better used elsewhere.

Nicolas van Helmeryck has spent years photographing the people living on the hospital grounds.

San Juan de Dios Hospital: A Story of Disease, Poverty and Death in Bogotá. (Sounds like cheery reading.)

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours