The former San Juan de Dios dispensary, located between Travesía de Orzán and Calle Corralón in A Coruña, was a center dedicated to the treatment of venereal diseases and to enforcing the 1882 Reglamento de Higiene especial de la Provincia de La Coruña, which aimed to regulate prostitution in order to curb the spread of syphilis. The dispensary served the general population, holding separate consultation days for men and women.
Built in the 1920s in a populated and industrial area, the center also carried out important educational work. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, as public health ideas gained strength, the spread of health advice and basic hygiene guidelines increased. In A Coruña, this work was closely connected to the dispensary and to its director from 1923, Dr. J. López Martínez, who supported the need for sex education in many of his publications. However, his writings still showed the strong influence of the Christian moral values of the time, which often linked disease to behavior seen as immoral.1
- Photos and main text by Sabela Nóvoa Gómez moc.liamg|im9211ebas#| (December 2025)
- Locate the item on this Google Map
Bibliography:
- Fernández Fernández, C. M (1996). Medicina y moral: la lucha contra las enfermedades venéreas en A Coruña (1920-1930). Anuario brigantino, 19, 195-204