La construcción de la red de hospitales y ambulatorios públicos en españa, 1880‐1960

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the historical construction of the network of health infrastructures in Spain from very different areas both public and private. The first part provides a first statistical progress of the major infrastructure before approving the compulsory insurance. The second part of the paper analyzes the implementation of compulsory insurance in a context where the state lacked a basic network of public health infrastructure. Within this context, concerts with the private sector were essential. Later, the Plan Nacional de Instalaciones Sanitarias was approved. It was an ambitious and expensive project launched in a country with serious economic problems. From here, several questions arise: How did the dictatorship manage to fund and build the plan?; What role did private health infrastructure play after the approval of this plan?; Did this plan achieve convergence between Spain and Europe in provision of health infrastructure? The paper ends with some conclusions and a future research agenda.