Francisco Moliner y Nicolás (1851-1915) and the start of the fight against tuberculosis in Spain

Abstract

The first proposals for organizing against tuberculosis were formulated quite early in Spain, put forward by Antonio Espina y Capó (Madrid, 1889) and Luis Comenge y Ferrer (Barcelona, 1892). Both these initiatives'failed because they did not meet with appropriate support from Spanish physicians. The first effective campaign was waged by Francisco Moliner y Nicolas (1851-1915) in Valencia starting in 1899. In that year he opened the Sanatorio de Porta-Coeli for tuberculosis patients without means, the first of its kind in the country. He also successfully founded the National League against Tuberculosis and for Aid to Poor Tuberculosis victims. He campaigned for the government to establish public sanatoria throughout Spain, taking the Porta-Coeli sanatorium as a model. In Moliner's view, assistance furnished to poor tuberculosis patients in such centres would afford the advantages of isolating sources of infection and of preventing social unrest. Establishment of these centres would help achieve this latter goal by coveying a feeling of social justice to the working class. Moliner's efforts helped introduce the theory of a contagious agent into Spanish society and subsequently influenced the course of the official fight against tuberculosis that was undertaken in 1906.