Abstract:

The word hospital comes from the Latin word ‘Hospes’ which refers to either a visitor or the host who receives the visitor. From ‘Hospes’ came the Latin ‘Hospitalia’ an apartment for strangers or guests, and the medieval Latin ‘Hospitale’ and the old French ‘hospital’. In the 15th century in England it became to mean a home for the elderly or infirm or a home for the down and out. In the 16th century other terms related to hospital include hospice, hospitality, hospitable, host, hostel and hotel. ‘Hospital’ only took on its modern meaning as an institution where sick or injured are given medical or surgical care. In other words, hospital means a building in which the sick injured, or infirm are received and treated, a public or private institution founded for reception and cure or for the refuge, of persons diseased in body or mind. Thus, the first and foremost function of a hospital is to give proper care to the sick and injured without any social, economic or racial discrimination. The primary health center is the peripheral institution from which health services radiate to the rural community. It constitutes the embodiment of the new concept of integration of preventive and curative care. The centre is founded on principle that the maintenance of health is just as important as the treatment of disease and to secure both, all concerned must work as a team. It is the smallest agency which provides preventive and curative health services including family planning in a integrated manner to the rural population. The idea of developing primary health centers for providing comprehensive health services in the rural areas of India was first presented in a concrete form by the Bhore committee in 1946.

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