Havana Psychiatric Hospital

The Hospital Psiquiátrico de La Habana Comandante Doctor Eduardo Bernabé Ordaz Ducunge, better known as Mazorra (the name of the estate upon which it was built), is a Cuban psychiatric hospital located in north of Wajay, Boyeros, in the city of Havana.

Havana Psychiatric Hospital
(Mazorra)
Geography
LocationAvenida Rancho Boyeros, Havana, Cuba
Coordinates23°00′46.3″N 82°24′07.3″W
Organisation
TypePsychiatric
History
Opened1847
Links
WebsiteOfficial website

History

In 1857 it was founded with the name Casa General de Dementes de la Isla de Cuba.[1]

Horrible conditions at the hospital prior to the Cuban Revolution were documented in a series of photos which the Cuban state often uses to justify the need for the revolution. At the first session of the Communist Party of Cuba it was stated that:[1]

"The National Psychiatric Hospital was under capitalism a real warehouse of sick people, where terrible scenes took places and many times the patients died of hunger and neglect, to such extremes that some directors made deals with funeral homes. To say Mazorra is to say Dante's Inferno."

In 2010 a number of patients died - according to the Catholic Church due to abandonment, bad state of the hospital, and theft of food, medicine and coats to sell on the black market. The estimated number of dead varies from 26 according to the Cuban state to 50 according to anti-government activists. As a result the Church requested urgent reform and opening to the private sector in the emblematic (state-run) health care sector. due to corruption, lack of resources, and bad service.[2][3]

Currently Mazorra occupies 36 buildings dedicated to hospitalization, labs, parks, sport and recreation areas, occupational therapy, teaching, security and administration. It has a capacity of 2,500 beds according to the Cuban state.[1]

References
  1. "Hospital Psiquiátrico de La Habana", EcuRed
  2. "Entre 40 y 50 los muertos en Hospital Psiquiátrico de La Habana", El Nuevo Herald (Miami), 29 enero 2010 Archived 2013-06-19 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Iglesia cubana pide reforma "urgente" en salud", Diario de Guayana, 1 abril 2011
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