San Juan de Dios Hospital

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1955 · Authors: Enrique Rumeu de Armas

The presence of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God in Tenerife dates back to 1949, when, by plenary agreement, the Cabildo of Tenerife authorised the establishment of the religious on the island, with the aim of medically treating children victims of various diseases, especially those affected by poliomyelitis.

Originally they settled in premises located in La Cuesta. A few years later, in 1952, the procedures began to acquire a spacious estate on the edge of the road from Santa Cruz to La Laguna. It was here that the new hospital headquarters was built, under the plans drawn up by the architect Enrique Rumeu de Armas. 

A building was erected with two lateral wedge-shaped bodies and a much more vertical central one in the form of a tower, which served to house the common areas, as well as being configured as a fundamental structure in the layout of the building's internal communications. 

The new clinic began operating in 1955, counting, a few years later, with the cream of the medical staff of the city at that time; traumatologists: doctors Miguel López González, Fernando Planelles Espejo and José Macía; ENT specialist: Dr Fernando Barajas; ophthalmologist: Dr Corviniano Rodríguez; lung and heart specialist: Dr Raúl Capote; neurologist: Dr Luis González Feria; urologist: Dr Francisco Bañares; general surgery: Dr Tomás Zerolo; physiotherapy: Dr José M. Rafols Jorge; paediatrics: Dr José Gómez; radiology: Dr Leocadio López; analyst: Dr Rafael Cabrera; psychiatry: Dr José Pérez y Pérez.

Since the 1980s the clinic has been transformed into a medical-surgical hospital contracted with the Canary Islands Health Service. Throughout its history it has always been modernising and updating itself, becoming today, after the reform carried out in 2019, a leading healthcare centre on the island.

Nevertheless, the San Juan de Dios Hospital continues to belong to the Hospitaller Order that founded it, an institution of the Catholic Church that, without profit, is dedicated to healthcare, social-healthcare, social, teaching and research activities.

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