Annual report : 1946 / Lebanon Hospital for Mental Diseases.

  • Lebanon Hospital for Mental and Nervous Disorders.
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report : 1946 / Lebanon Hospital for Mental Diseases. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Lebanon Hospital for Mental Diseases—“the First Home for the Insane in Bible Lands”—was founded on the initiative of Theophilus Waldmeier, a Swiss missionary in Lebanon, who formed committees in various countries to raise funds, with a Central Committee in London (responsible for policy and finance) and a Local Executive Committee in Beirut. The land was bought in 1898, and the Hospital opened in 1900 on a beautiful estate of (now) 38 acres, 450 feet above the sea, on the slopes of Mt. Lebanon, about 6 miles from Beirht along the Damascus road. This international and unsectarian hospital was founded to rescue men and women suffering from mental troubles of all kinds from the terrible rites of “exorcism” and from starvation, chains and neglect. During these 47 years of unbroken work it has been the means of curing thousands of people and relieving still more. Both Government and private patients are received—from Lebanon and all the countries around—and also a certain proportion of free cases. There are some 20 houses, provided by half a dozen countries, with accommodation for about 500 patients. * » « The Asfuriyeh Estate was made WAKF, that is dedicated as a reli¬ gious foundation, in 1912, and is held in trust by the General Committee in London. It is to be used: ‘‘For works of mercy to those who are afflicted with mental and nervous diseases of all kinds from among the people of Lebanon and Syria as far as the accommodation will allow, according to the judgment of the overseer of the Wakf. And the physician shall treat without any distinction by reason of sect or religion, until God heals. And the overseer further extends the benefit of this endowment to all sufferers with mental and nervous diseases without distinction of country or creed. '‘And this Wakf is settled, dedicated, and legal, and shall not be sold nor granted, nor mortgaged, nor appropriated ... so that this Wakf {endow¬ ment) may remain intact until God inherits the earth and everything in it.” (Extract from the translation of the Arabic Title Deed—Lebanon