[Historical exploration of Acapulco hospitals, Guerrero, Mexico]

This study attempts to recount the history of the main hospitals of the port of Acapulco from colonial times until the end of the 20th century. The Augustine friars began hospital care at the end of the first part of the 16th century. Later, Bernardino Alvarez (1514?-1584), with the support of the Spanish crown, founded the first formal hospital in Acapulco called Hospital de Nuestra Señora de la Consolación (Our Lady of Consolation Hospital). During the 16th and 17th centuries, the sick were attended by friars, and by the end of the 19th century there were physicians and surgeons. From the end of the Independence War until the end of the 19th century, the port did not have any true hospital. The first degreed physicians and surgeons arrived and resided in Acapulco in 1920. In 1938, the Hospital Civil Morelos (Morelos Civil Hospital) began providing services. It was replaced by the Hospital General de Acapulco (General Hospital of Acapulco). At the fourth decade of the past century the Cruz Roja (Red Cross) was created. In 1957 the hospital services of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS, Mexican Institute of Social Security), which was founded in 1963, was inaugurated with the Unidad Medico/Social (Medical and Social Unit) of the IMSS in Acapulco. This began the journey of modernity in Acapulco. In 1992, Hospital Regional Vicente Guerrero (Regional Hospital Vicente Guerrero) of the IMSS, initiated its services. In 1960, medical services for civil workers and their families were housed in the Hospital Civil Morelos (Morelos Civil Hospital). Shortly afterwards, the Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales para los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE, Security and Social Services Institute for State Employees) had their own hospital. During the 20th century, Acapulco has added other hospital services to care for members of the navy and armed forces, as well as for those persons with financial resources for private care.