The first leprosy hospitals in Greece operated in Spinalonga, Leros, Chios, Samos and in the hospital “St. Varvara” in Athens
THE leprosy – Hansen’s disease – was in the past a “curse”, which condemned patients to isolation and living in often squalid conditions. The Hanseniki, with the altered and deformed view them, were considered miasma and sent to leprosy centerswhere they often stayed until they died.
THE World Leprosy Day is celebrated every year on the last Sunday of January at the initiative of the International Leprosy Association (ILEP) and the World Health Organization, with the aim of raising awareness among the international community about the disease of leprosy, which affects 3 million people worldwide.
In Greece, the first leprosy hospitals were created in Spinalonga, Leros, Chios, Samos and the hospital “St. Varvara” in Athens.
Yes, the leprosy hospital of Chios – also known as Lovokomeio – was the oldest in Greece and one of the oldest in Europe.
It started its operation in 1378 and officially closed in 1957. when the last 8 inmates were transferred to the institution of Agia Varvara in Attica.
In Samos the leper home was founded in 1887 at the “Panagitsa” location of Karlovasos and was closed in 1890. It operated without interruption until 1966, when it was abolished and the remaining lepers were transferred to the “Agia Varvara” Infectious Disease Hospital of Athens.
The leprosy hospital in Spinalonga in Crete it started operating on November 11, 1903 but the first lepers settled there on October 13, 1904. Later it accepted patients even from other countries and was characterized as an International Leprosy Home.
During the five years 1930-1935, the transfer and installation of patients to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in the area of the Municipality of Agia Varvara began in specially designed and relatively remote areas. Finally in 1957 lepers were cured by the use of antibiotic drugs.
Today Spinalonga is a place of historical memory.
Leprosy appeared in Leros in the early 1800s and nearly wiping out its population. The sick were isolated in a leper asylum near the sea, in the Roman fortress. A little later, with the help of the Greek Egyptians, a small leper home was built, north of the already crumbling Roman fortress, in the area of Bruzzi.
Agia Varvara leprosy hospital
The General Hospital of Western Attica “Agia Varvara” operated for the first time as a Nursing Institution in 1903, under the name “Kantharos”. In 1906, it was renamed the “Euloiontos” Hospital, due to the many smallpox patients who were treated there. From 1930, the first leprosy patients began to be transported from Spinalonga
Today it is the only reception center for leprosy patients in Greece, while the ward where the 34 leprosy patients live was built in the 1970s.
With information-photos from APE-MPE and the exhibition “Memories from the Hansen years”
Source: Skai
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