THE MERCIFUL BROTHERS´ HOSPITAL IN BRNO

The Merciful Brothers´ Hospital, the second oldest and continually functioning municipal hospital in our country, was established in October 1747 by the Moravian count Jan Křtitel Leopold of Dietrichstein. In 1805, during the Battle of Three Emperors at Slavkov (Austerlitz) ,not far from Brno, the hospital was occupied by Napoleon´s army and overcrowded by wounded soldiers. During the First World War the hospital was full of wounded people too. The hospital is in the history of our country also mentioned in connection with the revitalist of the Czech nation, Josef Dobrovský, who fell seriously ill during his stay in Brno and died in the Merciful Brothers´Hospital on January 6, 1829.

In 1920 electrification of the hospital was carried out. The beginning of communist totality in Februar 1948 brought about nationalization of the hospital. A new building for Long-term Care Hospital and another one for Rehabilitation Medicine were completed in autumn 1987. Since 1993 the Merciful Brothers´ Hospital has been functioning as an independent contributory organization of the town Brno again. In 2000 the Merciful Brothers´Hospital took over under its management the Long-term Care Hospital on Červený kopec. Building of a new, up-to-date, six-storeys high facility for acute medicine started to the end of 2002 and three years later this building was completed and set in going. In 2005 the hospital succeeded gaining the international quality certificate ISO 9001:2000. The hospital joined the citizens´association project Baby-box for Got-off Children in the same year and by this it became the first hospital in Moravia owning such a rescue box.

At present, the hospital provides care for in-patients on 510 beds every day, the number of in-patients per year being about 14,000 and this of out-patients 130,000. There are 600 stable employees who take care of patients in the Merciful Brothers´Hospital where they work in management and following departments:

• Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Medical Care (ARIM)
• Department of Surgery
• Central Operating Theatres and Sterilization Department
• Department of Gynaecology and Obsterics
• Department of Neonatology
• Department of Internal Medicine
• Endoscopy Examination and Treatment Center
• Department of Rehabilitative Medicine
• Long-term Care and Rehabilitation Hospital Polní
• Long-term Care and Rehabilitation Hospital Červený kopec
• Department of Radiodiagnostics
• Department of Clinical Laboratories with Haematology Examination Center
• Neurology Examination Center
• Psychology Counselling and Examiation Center
• Engineering Department
• Department of Economics

The Endoscopy Examination and Treatment Center of the hospital rank among the first three Czech hospitals by the number of examinations and treatments accomplished on colon. Also the Department of Surgery gained its reputation for example thanks treatment of haemorrhoids by Baron´s and Long´s methods. The Merciful Brothers´Hospital has a status of Diabetology Center which is a great success for a municipal hospital as usually only big faculty hospitals can pride themselves on this title. The hospital offers not only a comprehensive therapeutical care of patients suffering from diabetes but also both individual and group education of children and juvenile diabetics.

The Department of Gynaecology and Obsterics noted a record high number of babies (1,507 babies, 1,498 births) born there as soon as in 2006 (comparing with the numbers in previous 25 years) and the number of births has been increasing year by year since. The average number of births per week is approximately 40 to 45. Thanks its attitude to the newborn babies and to the mothers the hospital was graced with the title Baby Friend Hospital.

The Long-term Care and Rehabilitation Hospital (Polní and Červený kopec taken together) is with its 243 beds the largest facility of its kind in Moravia. A specialization of this hospital is healing of chronic wounds. A newly reconstructed facility for hydrotherapy is a pride of the Department of Rehabilitative Medicine..

With the aim of replacing every used up mattress with a new one the hospital organizes a collection under the title Comfort Helps to Cure and any financial contribution has been appreciated (bank account of the hospital: 414 414 414/0300).