- Medicine in Colombia
Medicine in Colombia refers to the maintenance and restoring of human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients in
Colombia .Medicine in the
precolumbian periodThe medicine in the precolumbian period was practiced by selected people who also had religious duties. The
Tayrona , Colimas and Panches tribes called themMohan es or Normas. Among thetukano s andkoguis they were known asshaman es and in thePacific ocean coast tribes Jaibanás or Nieles They made the healing practices in special houses, called by the conquerors "Bujíos del diablo" (huts of thedevil ). ["Noticias Historiales de las Conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occidentales" Written by Fray Pedro Simón, circa 1570] Thismedicine men received special training for several years in some sort ofconvent s nearChía named "Cuca". No matter the name they received, the shamans were responsibles of the administration of the natural resources and the balance with the environment, besides the healing duties. The therapeutic principles were mostly empiric observations of healing properties of the plants. Some surgical procedures were performed, as observed in skulls from themuisca culture withtrepanation s. Don Diego Alvarez Chanca in the early XVI century wrote his “Carta al cabildo de Sevilla”, where he describes the customs and characteristics of the main ethnic groups in Nueva Granada: Arawak and Karib, with medic, botanic and economic observations. This work is pioneer in the medic and ethnographic research in the New World. [ [http://www.gfmer.ch/Colombia_Pilar/HistoriaColonia.htm La medicina en Colombia. Una reseña histórica - La Colonia ] ]
=Medicine in the Colonial period=The first graduated medical doctor, Alvaro de Aunón came to New Granada from
Sevilla Spain , in 1597 and stayed for a short time. The firstdrugstore in Colombia was opened at the same time, in the main square of Bogotá by Pedro Lopez Buiza. [ [http://www.abcmedicus.com/especialidad/medicos/2/id/55/historia_medicina_colombiana.html Historia medicina colombiana ] ] In 1636, licenciado Rodrigo Enriquez de Andrade started the first medical university in the New Granada, in the St Bartolomé College with little success because of the prejudices against the medical career in the Spanish culture, where it was considered vulgar and proper of lower class people. Most of the medical practice in the country was provided by people without formal education. [ [http://www.compumedicina.com/historia/hm_main.shtml Historia de la Medicina - Compumedicina ] ] The first medical book written in Colombia was "Tratado de medicina y modelo de curar en estas partes de Indias" by Pedro Fernandez de Valenzuela (1662).In 1740, don Vicente Tomás Cansino started the medical teaching in the Rosario College (Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario). The medical care at the time was made almost exclusively in the particular homes of the sick people due lo the lack of health institutions. The fist hospital in Colombia was the San Pedro Hospital, in the capital city
Bogotá . The hospital started its functioning in 1564, built by bishop fray Juan de los Barrios. In 1739 was opened theHospital San Juan de Dios [ [http://www.scc.org.co/documents/hospital%20san%20juan.pdf SINTITUL-4 ] ] , built by fray Pedro Pablo Villamor.Present time
As of 2007 Colombian medicine has been recognized as one of the most advanced in
Latin America . Therefractive surgery keratomileusis was developed byIgnacio Barraquer in 1964 in Bogotá. On January 10, 1985 Dr. Elkin Lucena performed the fist successfulIn vitro fertilization , that allowed the birth of the first Latin Americantest tube baby Carolina Mendez. On December 14, 1985 the Dr. Alberto Villegas performed the firstheart transplant in Latin America to Antonio Yepes. [ [http://www.compumedicina.info/cursos/p0005.htm Historia de la Cirugía. Curso a Distancia ] ]On May 20, 1994 Dr.
Manuel Elkin Patarroyo received thePrince of Asturias Awards by his technical and scientific research in the development of synteticmalaria vaccine . The national constitucion was reformed in 1991, and with this purpose the general system of social security was reformed with the implementation of Law 100, that extended widely the health coverage to the population, but the economic resources to finance this reform were insufficient, causing collapse of many public health institutions and affecting the income of the medical staff. [ [http://www.deslinde.org.co/Dsl36/dsl36_la_ley_100.htm La Ley 100 ] ]Health issues
The
tropical diseases are important issues in Colombia, and major causes of death. Themalaria affects near 85% of the national territory, mainly thePacific ocean coast, the amazon jungle and easternsavanna s, with an estimated of 250.000 cases/year and amortality rate of 3/100.000.http://web.unab.edu.co/editorialunab/revistas/medunab/pdfs/ed719.pdf] The main agent isPlasmodium vivax with 66% of the cases, except in the pacific coast, wherePlasmodium falciparum causes 75% of the cases.The
yellow fever and theDengue fever [ [http://www.medicosgeneralescolombianos.com/Dengue.htm Guia De Atencion Del Dengue ] ] are major public health concerns, due to its highepidemic potential, high mortality rate and wide distribution ofAedes aegypti . The Colombian government developsvaccination campaigns against yellow fever in a regular basis. [ [http://www.disaster-info.net/desplazados/informes/fiebreamarilla/fiebreamarillaene2004.htm Documento Publicado por Salud y Desplazamiento http://pagina.de/desplazados ] ] TheSantander Department and nearby areas are endemic toChagas disease . Other diseases such asLeishmania ,rabies ,Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus andWest nile virus are also present in Colombia. Thesnakebite s are big concerns, because the shortage inantivenom supplies countrywide. [http://www.col.ops-oms.org/docs/estadisticasmps/MORDEDURA%20SERPIENTES%202004.ppt]Different forms of
malnutrition affect severely the population, specially children under five years, with moderate to severe rates of malnutrition of 21% andiron deficiency anemia of 23%. [ [http://www.unicef.org/colombia/05-nut.htm UNICEF / Colombia - niños–niñas–adolescentes–infancia–salud–educación–igualdad–protección–derechos–noticias–juegos–tarjetas–regalos–libros–videos–VIH–sida–foros–vacunación–nutrición - conflicto armado - trabajo infantil–violencia–secuestros–calle - lactancia materna - registro civil - explotación sexual–desplazados - minas antipersonal–publicaciones–pdf–convención–mortalidad–micronutrientes–gestación–maltrato - agua y saneamiento–limitaciones ] ] (seeaguapanela ).ee also
*
Health care in Colombia
*List of hospitals in Colombia
*Medical tourism
*Water supply and sanitation in Colombia References
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