The word "hospital" comes from Latin, which means "guest", because when it was first established, it was for people to take refuge and have a lounge, which made people comfortable and entertaining. Later, it gradually became a professional institution to meet human medical needs and provide medical services, and it was a service place to accommodate and treat patients.
Hospital refers to a medical institution that provides patients with necessary services such as medical examination, treatment measures, nursing technology, consulting services, rehabilitation equipment, rescue and transportation in accordance with laws, regulations and industry norms with the main purpose of saving lives. Its clients include not only symptomatic patients and wounded, but also elderly people who cannot take care of themselves or have limited activities and rely on medical care. Forensic doctors evaluate seriously ill patients who are dependent on medical treatment or whose condition is unstable and need long-term rehabilitation, or who have other specific circumstances and people.
For example, healthy people (such as pregnant women, parturients and newborns) and completely healthy people (such as those who come to the hospital for physical examination or oral cleaning) are initially set up for people to take refuge, and entertainment programs are provided to make people feel comfortable and have the intention of entertainment. Later, they gradually became specialized institutions for receiving and treating patients.
China is one of the first countries to establish hospitals. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, the plague was prevalent along the Yellow River. Liu Che, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, set up medical clinics in various places, equipped with doctors and medicines, to treat the people free of charge.
In the second year of Emperor Yuan of Hanping (AD 2), "people suffering from diseases and epidemics leave their homes for medical treatment", which seems to be an isolated hospital today. The above two historical facts are contained in Hanshu. In the twenty-first year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty (AD 497), Emperor Xiaowen once set up a "other room" in Luoyang for the people to take medicine. There was a "patient's workshop" in the Sui Dynasty to accommodate leprosy patients. In the 22nd year of Kaiyuan in the Tang Dynasty (AD 734), there were "wards" covering Chang 'an and Luoyang, as well as institutions such as Beisun Hospital and General Management Hospital, which took in poor disabled people and beggars.