Doutor José Maria Morais Hospital (formerly Siderúrgica Hospital and later São Camilo Hospital) is an institution located in the Brazilian city of Coronel Fabriciano, in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais. It was created by Belgo-Mineira in 1936, due to an epidemic of tropical diseases that the town was facing at the time.
The hospital is located at Argemiro José Ribeiro Street, in the Santa Helena neighborhood, and is one of the main health centers in the region providing services through the Unified Health System (SUS); it is financed by the state and municipal governments and managed by the City Hall. It is responsible for health care in the Coronel Fabriciano zone, which involves municipalities in the Vale do Aço and its metropolitan area.
History
An epidemic of tropical diseases that had been affecting the area of today's Vale do Aço, due to the closed forest and tropical climate, led to the creation of the then Siderúrgica Hospital by the Companhia Siderúrgica Belgo-Mineira in 1936. The unit, idealized by Belgo-Mineira's president at the time, Louis Ensch, from Luxembourg, was initially intended to attend the company's employees and remained as the only large health center in the area until the mid-1960s.
Its establishment was encouraged by Joaquim Gomes da Silveira Neto, Belgo-Mineira's superintendent in the then Melo Viana district, subordinated to Antônio Dias, and its first doctors were Moacyr Birro, Getúlio de Melo, José Riscala Albeny, and Rubem Siqueira Maia, the latter having become the first elected mayor of Coronel Fabriciano, emancipated in 1948. In 1938, the hospital was taken over by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, under the supervision of the local chaplain Canon Domingos Martins. In the same year, management was granted to the nuns of the congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows, who ran the health center until 1960. Under the influence of Dom Helvécio Gomes de Oliveira, archbishop of Mariana, the Chapel of Our Lady Help of Christians was built next to the hospital and concluded in 1942. It was a reference to the patron saint of the Salesians, the congregation to which Dom Helvécio belonged. A cloister connected to the chapel, formed by a corridor with several rooms, served as shelter for the Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows.
The construction of the chapel was funded with donations from the hospital's own employees, who allowed part of their monthly salaries to be destined to the works. Finally, Joaquim Gomes donated the image of the saint. The temple was used for some of the celebrations of the local Catholic community, which later originated the Saint Sebastian Parish. The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul attended the hospital until 1947, when they were replaced by the Carmelite Sisters, who were involved in the creation of Colégio Angélica. In the 1960s, the health unit was acquired from Belgo-Mineira by physician José Maria Morais, with the support of José Riscala Albeny and later, Walter Winter Maia.
Possible closure and change of provider
In the 2000s, the then Siderúrgica Hospital was going through financial difficulties and in 2009, it was in a state of "pre-bankruptcy". At the time, it was among the main hospitals that provided public services to nearby municipalities, especially to the cities in the Vale do Aço metropolitan area, which have a shortage of hospital beds. The health center has been managed by the Saint Sebastian Health Beneficent Association (ABSSS), with about 80% of the revenue coming from the public service through the Unified Health System (SUS), but the maintainer claimed not to receive enough money from the municipal, state, and federal governments. In addition, due to the lack of release of the certificate from the National Social Assistance Council (CNAS), which brings fiscal and tax regularization to the entity, the unit was closed on July 15, 2011, leaving Coronel Fabriciano without SUS care.