Murcia Stories | In memory of the founding of the College of Medicine. By José Emilio Rubio #OpinionMP

Murcia. A professor at the University of Murcia wrote at the end of 1966 that it was “crazy” to think about medical school Or try creating one Faculty of Economics. But the fact is that in the summer of 1968 the first was created and in 1971 College of Business Administration, a predecessor to the second, which was born in 1981. What he wanted was to expand the sciences that would include the biology department. These studies also arrived, but in 1975.

It was the county council that raised Ministry of Education and Science Create request Faculty of Medicine in Murciaand soon after received the commitment of various institutions and organizations, including the basic university and the equally important College of Physicians.

It was in plenary on Monday, October 9, 1967 that the proposal was formal, on the basis of two agreements: that the establishment of medical school and to offer to the Ministry the land necessary for its construction and the facilities of all the health centers of the Diputación for the exercise of students.

Cipriano Baños Flores He was the first student out of 201 registered.

The historical telegram addressed to the minister by the head of the provincial council, Ramon Luis Pascual del RiquelmeWhich were identified are the centers that would have been available in those days, 55 years ago: “a medical-surgical hospital, a psychiatric hospital, maternity, nurseries, recovery centers for extraordinary children, rehabilitation for disabled children.” Still does not judge correct language, or corrective.

On October 30, in a speech to the minister who was Manuel Laura TamayoThe petition from Murcia found a quick response: “At the same time it is essential that all universities have medical schoolI repeat the declaration that they must be created according to this standard in Oviedo, Murcia and La Laguna, at least in the beginning, to impart preclinical and medical teachings.”

The Cabinet approved on February 9 of the following year the bill to be sent to the Cortes under which the aforementioned medical colleges were to be established, and on June 26 it was ruled by the legislature. On the same day, by the way, that Paul VI Announced the discovery of the relics of the Apostle Saint Peter in the Vatican crypt. On July 24, the plenary approved the bill, at the same time as the opening of Equatorial Guinea’s independence process.

The Official Gazette of the State issued the authorized legal official on July 29, where it was decided in its third article that the implementation of the teachings would be carried out gradually, from the lower courses to the higher courses, as the regulations were met. Budget forecasts and the necessary facilities will be activated.

Despite the fact that Diputación, Ayuntamiento and other instances certainly chose the immediate start of studies in the 1968-1969 academic year, the fact was that it was necessary to wait for the following year. And while there was talk of land and exact budgets to build the new college it was desirable to be close to the district hospital. That is why the environment of the future was considered 7 Crown Hotelwhich opened in 1971, and Polígono de San Juan, “whose urban lands will be handed over”.

At a plenary session held in November, it was announced that Diputación would contribute 13 million pesetas, and it was indicated that the space needed could reach 15,000 square metres. But it is certain that at the end of April 1969 the minister visited Villar Palassithat replaced Laura Tamayoto get acquainted with the facilities made available by the District Hospital to the Ministry for the operation of the College of Medicine, as well as the lots ceded by Diputación for the final building of the College mentioned in Espinardo Residential Complex. This is how the current campus began to take shape.

In June, the Commissioner of the Dean of the New College of Medicine, Dr Jomar Journer He visited the temporary facilities set up behind the county hospital and informed the head of the regional council that it would start working from the 1969-70 school year, with the registration period open from 1 September.

The architect directed the work on adapting the spaces available in the district hospital Enrique Sancho Ruano and digger Juan Peter Count. Access, regardless of the rest of the hospital facilities, was made via Carrer de Louis Fontes Bagan, where the emergency department is located in the present-day Reina Sofia, and includes a garden area. The bronze shields of Diputación and the new kidney were installed on the facade.

And there was the first university course Medicine in Murciawhich, according to the press at the time, was in Cipriano Banos Flores To the first registered student out of 201 registered. Fourteen of them received a scholarship, the value of which ranged from 30 thousand to 40 thousand pesetas. And they reached the free registration, due to lack of resources, ten; For being the children of officials in the Ministry of Education and Science, nineteen; and four colleagues. The topics for this first course of the profession were: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Modern Language.

Most of those enrolled resided in the provinces of Murcia and Albacete, but there were also a group of Orihuela and other cities in Vieja Baja and Almeria, who did not study at the university of their region due to their proximity to Murcia. That historic session began on October 16, at 9:30 a.m.