ScienceThe Middle East
The hospital
Treatment for all, regardless of faith or means
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The institution differs from earlier almshouses in being organised for treatment and teaching, not only care. Al-Razi is said to have chosen the site for a Baghdad hospital by hanging pieces of meat about the city and seeing where they rotted slowest. The model reached Europe via Sicily and the crusades and shaped the first European hospitals.
For children
The bimaristans of Baghdad and Damascus admitted everyone — Muslims, Christians, Jews, poor and rich — without payment. They had separate wards, a pharmacy, case records, and physicians who had to pass an examination to practise.
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