Agenda UV

The Institute for the History of Medicine and Science López Piñero (combined centre of the CSIC and the University of Valencia), with headquarters in the Palau de Cerveró, extends until next 21 March the exhibition Infància, salut i malaltia. El Dr. Ramón Gómez Ferrer (1862-1924), organised by the Office of the Vice-Principal for Culture and Equality of the University and the IHMC López Piñero, in collaboration with the Asociación Cultural Ramón Gómez Ferrer. The exhibition, which was inaugurated the past 18 September in the José Puche Room of the IHMC, has had a good reception by the public, having over 1500 visitors.

The project, commissioned by Joan Lloret and, as associate to the commissioner, Àlvar Martínez Vidal, both professors at the University of Valencia, supposes the adaptation of a new exhibition room in the Palau de Cerveró. It is likewise the expression of the strong commitment of the University to expand its cultural catalogue to the citizens, as well as a recognition to the extraordinary work of this Valencian doctor, the first full university professor in paediatrics in the Valencian Community.

The career of Dr. Gómez Ferrer is linked, necessarily, to the birth of paediatrics in Valencia. Since 1888, year of the creation of the paediatrics Chair by the University, until his death in 1924, it was occupied by this distinguished doctor who devoted his large professional career to fight the high infant mortality rates.

The exhibition, which can be visited until next 10 January 2014, has materials specifically transferred for this occasion by Doctor Ramón Gómez Ferrer’s family, among which there are unknown portraits, query objects and extensive documentation (correspondence, personal notes, module programmes, notes from his lessons, etc.). The original recording, recently restored, a speech fragment, which he gave in the Ateneo Mercantil in 1899, on the importance of a comprehensive and free education for all children, stand out.

Through the versatile activity of Dr. Gómez Ferrer, the visitor will have the occasion to know first-hand the efforts of the Valencian society for children’s health. In this sense, the exhibition shows, firstly, the introduction to paediatric teaching as an independent discipline at the University of Valencia, with his scientific contributions on paediatrics in national and international meetings and, on the other hand, his commendable supportive work, both in the private and the public sector. A bust of Dr. Gómez Ferrer, which is kept in the current Hospital General (General Hospital) of Valencia, recalls his dedication and commitment to children who were taken in the old hospital located in Guillem de Castro Street.

Social need

Throughout the nineteenth century the hygienist movement defended, before the high infant mortality rates, the need to protect poor and abandoned children, collateral victims of the industrial revolution, who died because of starvation, the exhausting work or the bad hygienic conditions. For doctors at that time, ‘children’s diseases’ was one of the largest chapters of human pathology. Gradually, a specific knowledge area and health care practice which showed two aspects were configured: paediatrics for children diseases treatment and paediatrics for preventing those diseases through good nutrition and hygiene.

Career path

Member of a family from the Aragonese locality Mora de Rubielos, Ramón Gómez Ferrer was born in Valencia on 21 December 1862. He studied medicine and after a short stay in Madrid he got in 1888 the Chair of “Enfermedades de los niños” (“Children’s diseases”) at the University of Valencia, a position that he held until his death.

In 1920 he was nominated as honorary citizen of the city of Valencia and was publically honoured at the assembly hall of the university. In the Jardines de la Glorieta, a sculpture in stone, paid by popular subscription by the Valencian mothers in gratitude, recalls since then his figure as paediatrician and his generosity towards poor children. The exhibition shows who the Valencian society know how to recognise publically the value of the paediatrician, rendering homage, erecting sculptures and giving his name to streets, avenues and squares in several cities.

He directed for twenty years La Medicina Valenciana, a magazine which he owned. Among the studies of his specialty, the studies on children paralysis, especially poliomyelitis, stand out. He was issue partner at the Real Academia de Medicina y Cirugía (Royal Academy of Medicinea and Surgery) of Valencia. He was committed to social problems until his death. According to him, education must be public and for free for all children. He was vice-president at the Junta de Protección a la Infancia (Children Protection Board) and president of the Juvenile Justice Court.

The exhibition recovers the two projects to which he dedicated the last years of his life: the Instituto de Nipiología (Nipiology Institute) and the Hospital de los Niños (Children’s Hospital). His early and unexpected death, as a result of a pneumonia passed on by a child that he was taking care of, impeded his wishes come true.