New O'Horán Hospital Is Near, Replacing Outdated Facility

The new Agustín O’Horán Hospital, which is scheduled to open in December, is a direct descendant of Mérida’s first hospital nearly five centuries ago, almost immediately after the Spanish conquest.

In 1550, during the rule of Mérida’s first mayor, Gaspar Suárez de Ávila, work began on establishing a public hospital. Mérida’s first hospital was envisioned as a refuge where “conquistadors, passing foreigners and the destitute poor could be attended in case of illness,” according to historical records.

The first tangible step came when Mayor Suárez de Ávila and his wife, Doña Isabel de Cervantes de Lara y Andrade, donated land adjacent to their home, north of the lot chosen to build the Cathedral. According to a stone plaque that still exists, the hospital was erected and dedicated on May 18, 1562. Following customs of the era, a small chapel was built on the same grounds, with a stone portico adorned with a carved rosary. It still stands today at Calle 61 and 58.

This original hospital was later transformed into a hospital-convent in 1625 under the name Hospital San Juan de Dios. Simultaneously, another medical facility emerged when Don Diego García de Montalvo built a church and monastery in the east of the city for the Franciscan Order, called the Iglesia de la Mejorada, which was inaugurated on Jan. 22, 1640. Between 1688 and 1694, this building was adapted to serve as a hospital for the Franciscan friars.

San Juan de Dios Hospital’s location shifted multiple times over the centuries, reflecting political changes and the city’s growth. On May 30, 1821, at the end of the colonial period, a Spanish court decree expelled the Juaninos (Order of San Juan de Dios) and moved the first hospital in. After Mexican independence, authorities returned the hospital to the Juaninos, renaming it Hospital General de San Juan de Dios in 1828.

On Feb. 10, 1832, the state took charge of the hospital under the name Hospital General de Mérida. The following year, Gov. Tiburcio López y Constante created the Chair of Medicine at the State University and included in the founding decree the use of the General Hospital for clinical instruction and student practice.

In 1862, Dr. Agustín O’Horán y Escudero — a Guatemala-born physician who had become a prominent figure in Yucatecan medicine and politics — suggested that after 300 years, it was time to move the General Hospital. The chosen location was the old Franciscan convent of La Mejorada, which was practically abandoned at that point.

Medical Education and Scientific Advancement at La Mejorada

The hospital at La Mejorada became a center of medical innovation and education. There, young medical students initiated their careers under the wise teachings of disciples of the notable physicians Dr. Ignacio Vado Lugo (founder of the Yucatán School of Medicine) and other doctors who had studied abroad, such as Dr. José María Tappam from Harvard University and Dr. Ricardo Sauri from Paris.

The old walls witnessed activities by unforgettable masters, including Agustín O’Horán, as well as Ignacio Vado, José Dolores Patrón, Augusto Molina Solís, Manuel Arias, Joaquín Acevedo Acosta, and Francisco Losa. The facility performed the surgery of its era: reducing dislocations, splinting fractures, amputations of crushed or gangrenous limbs, perineal cutting to extract bladder stones, and wound sutures. Treatments were made with annatto and yellow ointment, and the hospital also housed mental patients in cells located at the back of the courtyard.

A new era dawned in the late 19th century when Dr. Saturnino Guzmán Cervera returned from Europe with his degree from the Faculty of Paris, having studied under famous surgeons Trélat, Jaccoud, and Verneuil. Guzmán brought the innovations of Pasteur and Lister — the glorious era of asepsis and antisepsis, which allowed for greater surgical achievements. In 1895, in the old hospital, the first laparotomy was performed by Guzmán on a Syrian-Lebanese man who had a gunshot wound to the abdomen, causing 14 intestinal perforations, which, when sutured in time, saved the wounded man’s life.

The Modern Hospital Era Begins

After Dr. Agustín O’Horán’s death in September 1884, the facility was christened O’Horán Hospital. A marble plaque with a Latin inscription was placed in the building, reading: “To the republican, to the teacher, to the physician, to the philanthropist Agustín O’Horán, the homeland, science, humanity. 1895.”

The O’Horán Hospital remained at La Mejorada until 1906, when it was transferred to Itzaes and Canek, where it remains in 2025. The new facility was inaugurated on Feb. 6, 1906, by President Porfirio Díaz and entered service the next month. Patients were transferred by train from La Mejorada, using the Campeche railway line that circled the city and passed behind the hospital.

The 1906 hospital had a capacity of 400 beds distributed in pavilions of 20 beds each. It had buildings for administration, direction, kitchen, laundry, sewing room, pharmacy, analysis laboratories, an amphitheater for pathological anatomy and dissection, and two operating rooms—one in the north wing and another in the south wing. The construction cost 917,102 pesos and was financed through donations from prominent Yucatecan families, including Gov. Olegario Molina, who contributed 50,000 pesos of his personal funds plus his entire four-year gubernatorial salary.

Scientific Milestones and International Recognition

The early 20th century marked a significant scientific advancement at the hospital. In 1906, Dr. Harald Seidelín, a Danish physician who specialized in bacteriology, pathological anatomy, and clinical chemistry, was brought to Mérida through the efforts of Dr. Ramón Albert Pacheco. Dr. Seidelín established modern laboratories and performed Widal and Wassermann tests, at the time representing cutting-edge science, for the first time in Mérida — and possibly in Mexico.

Under Seidelín’s direction, the hospital began conducting gastric content analyses, milk and fecal matter tests, vaginal and pharyngeal exudates, nasal mucus, sputum, and cerebrospinal fluid examinations. A Pathological Anatomy Museum was formed with specimens studied by Seidelín. Later, the Liverpool Institute of Tropical Medicine entrusted him with research on Yellow Fever, which had been a scourge around the world, but especially in Yucatán.

In 1920, the Japanese scientist Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, commissioned by the Rockefeller Institution, came to Yucatán to investigate Yellow Fever and conducted his research work in the same O’Horán Hospital laboratories.

O’Horán Hospital continued expanding throughout the 20th century. In 1931, the X-ray department was inaugurated. Between 1980 and 1983, construction began on a hospital tower, which was completed in 1986 with 328 beds and 10 specialties. In 1988, Dr. Rafael Pacheco G. performed the first open-heart surgery with an extracorporeal pump. The hospital achieved certification as a “Baby and Mother-Friendly Hospital” in 1994, installed tomography equipment in the same year, and began peritoneal dialysis services in 1995.

O’Horán’s Decline in Reputation

This same O’Horán Hospital campus is dated and in poor repair today, as evidenced by patient reviews describing emergency conditions as overcrowded and unsanitary.

One visitor complained about “the most dirty toilets in Mérida,” while another reported being among five patients sharing a single bench in a hallway, stating, “My worst experience. They didn’t have beds. We were five women on one bench in the hallway.”

It appears ill-equipped for today’s needs. Families can spend hours outside the emergency areas to find out the status of their patients, with limited visiting hours and waiting times for patient information.

Finally, A New Start for O’Horán

The new O’Horán Hospital complex in southern Mérida, next to the Maternal and Child Hospital and Korea-Mexico Friendship Hospital, will mark the fourth major location in the institution’s 470-year history. It will be nearly double the size of its predecessor on Itzaes and Canek.

The facility represents a 4.7 billion peso federal investment and will be operated under the fledgling IMSS-Bienestar program, government initiative focused on providing healthcare services to individuals not covered by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) or the Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers (ISSSTE).

“Currently, the work is 70% complete in terms of equipment installation. Civil work remains to be finished, which should be ready by Dec. 15, with equipment installation and everything,” said hospital director Juan Carlos Arana Reyes.

The new complex will dramatically expand capacity with a modern 66,600-square-meter facility spanning nearly 11 hectares. Infrastructure improvements include 16 operating rooms compared to the current facility’s six, and consultation rooms increasing from 41 to 81.

The facility will feature 600 beds, 16 operating rooms, high-tech laboratories, oncology, hemodialysis, hemodynamics and advanced imaging services, according to IMSS-Bienestar director Alejandro Svarch Pérez. Additional features include specialized clinics for women’s health, cleft lip and palate treatment, pain management and palliative care, plus an auditorium, parking and a heliport for medical emergencies.

Historic Transition Reflects Broader Healthcare Evolution

The transition mirrors the hospital’s historical pattern of relocating to meet growing population needs. Construction is taking place on a state-owned property located next to the Maternal and Child Hospital, south of the city, positioning it within a modern medical complex, and easier to access for more people.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, who supervised construction during a recent visit, emphasized the hospital’s role in consolidating a unified National Public Health System. The new iteration of O’Horán Hospital will be the largest of its kind in southern Mexico and Central America. Patients with complicated cases are expected to be referred there from Campeche, Tabasco and Quintana Roo.

“The marvelous thing is that this hospital in Mérida, Yucatán, will open in December for all Yucatecans; an extraordinary hospital,” Sheinbaum said. “Do you know who built it? Military engineers, who are also among the best our country has.”

The transition will involve a gradual process for staff and services. The future of the current building remains undetermined.