Saint-Francis Hospital

The Saint-Francis Hospital (Dutch/Flemish: Sint-Franciscusziekenhuis) is a hospital located in the municipality of Heusden-Zolder in the province of Limburg (Belgium), Flanders, Belgium.

The Saint-Francis Hospital was founded by the congregation of the Grauwzusters from Zoutleeuw on the 20th of October 1925 when the head of the Franciscan order in Heusden-Zolder asked for a hospital for the local miners. This is how the hospital got its name.

The construction of the hospital started in 1927 and in that same year, the hospital was able to take care of 30 people. An operating room, a pharmacy and a washhouse were added in 1928. In 1932, a room for radiodiagnosis was added. During World War II, in 1941, the hospital was extended with another hall that could fit 30 patients, as well as a delivery room. A maternity department was added in 1952 and in 1957, an internal medicine department was added. Finally, the hospital was extended with a pediatrics department. After these works, however, renovations and more specialised medical departments were needed in the hospital.

On the 19th of December 1973, Jos De Saeger (Belgian minister of Public Health, Family and Environment) agreed on the hospital's proposal of its extension with another 84 beds. However, problems with the bad condition of the building due to mineshaft cave-ins underneath the hospital obstructed these works. On the 20th of May 1975, Rik Vandekerckhove agreed on new terms to replace the old building with a new one with 224 beds. Because of the Royal Assent (French: sanction royale) of the 1st of July 1982 that the number of beds could not be higher than 150, a new hospital with this smaller number of beds was built. It first opened on the 25th of September 1985.

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