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From Almshouse to Hospital
In 1701, an almshouse was founded in Mannheim. People were taken in who were poor, foreign or sick.
As from 1806, the city operated a small hospital in block R5 in the city center. Unlike the almshouse, it earned the title of “hospital”.
Documentation exists on an inventory of around 330 beds dating from 1860. By this time, the institution had wards for internal medicine, surgery, childbirth, babies, scabies and sexually transmitted diseases
New Building on the Banks of the river Neckar
Patient numbers increased continually. Therefore, in 1913, building work was started on a new site for the hospital – right on the banks of the river Neckar. The planners modelled the layout on baroque palace grounds. All the new buildings finally started operation in 1924 after construction work was delayed during World War I.
Foundation of the Mannheim Medical Faculty
Following the rising student numbers in medical science in the 1960s, a decision was made to involve the municipal hospitals in training medical students. The Mannheim Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University was founded as a result.
Continual Advancement
Since 1974, the University Medical Centre Mannheim has been continually expanded. New and converted buildings include the orthopedic clinic, the radiology and internal medicine premises as well as the Patient House which was completed in 2008. With the Patient House, the university hospital created a totally new concept for the accommodation and care of hospital patients: They can live in a hotel-like atmosphere, together with their family if they wish, and benefit from university-standard medical care.
Current Projects
The new surgical center was opened in February 2013: It houses operating rooms, intensive-care units and radiology units.
Since the end of 2015, the University Medical Centre Mannheim has been building a new stem cell and transplant unit: By summer 2017 this will result in an annex building with a transplant health care center and eight single rooms, all with high-tech hygiene facilities which fulfil the extreme standards required for this unit. This will double the capacities in Mannheim for the life-saving treatment of leukemia. What’s special here: Patients can move freely within the unit, also outside their room, since the whole unit offers the same high standard of hygiene.
Context Column
History-Then and now
