Hospitals as epicenter of health policies. Social and political aspects from a pandemic*

Lately, hospitals have been in the very center of the public debate and politics. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemics, society has demanded to be kept informed about the situation in these healthcare institutions. Mass media outlets have become extremely interested in hospitals, their ICUs, and their staff. Efficient administration of the hospital system and its improvement have become items on the top of the political agenda. Today's situation is not novel. Rather, the focus on hospitals has historical precedents. Since the twentieth century, hospitals have become centers of healthcare systems (a phenomena known as << hospital-centrism >>) in the increasing medicalization of the society. In comparison to many European countries, this process was slow in Spain, culminating in the late twentieth century. Nowadays, in the context of the recent pandemics, the capacity of hospitals to guarantee therapeutic efficiency has made them into axises of healthcare, leaving behind general practitioners, preventive medicine, or health education. The article aims at establishing a dialogue between the present and a past when a great variety of actors provided healthcare. In the past, when the state was just beginning to develop policies to manage epidemics, hospitals played quite a different role from the one they do today. Historians of medicine, economic historians, and general historians have explored notions such as social hospitals, hospitals during epidemies, and the role of hospitals within the healthcare system. By thinking historically, we can better understand the key issues of today and the challenges for the future.