The Maternity Clinic handled around 80 births per day during the peak of the baby boom

The opening of the Maternity Clinic in 1966 marked a significant turning point. Together with the Children’s Hospital, it became part of a network of healthcare centres serving Social Security beneficiaries across Barcelona and the surrounding province.

February 1966

Before 1966, all patients went to the city’s General Hospital for treatment. In its first ten years of operation, this centre provided care to around 200,000 people. 
 
On 1 February 1966, the Maternity Clinic was officially opened under the leadership of Dr Manuel Usandizaga, Professor of Obstetrics at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona. The cylindrical building was based on a more modern concept of healthcare facilities, incorporating radial layouts that were then in vogue in international architecture. It was based on the prototype developed by architect Martín José Marcide, who secured the project using his position as director of the National Welfare Institute. The clinic had 370 beds for mothers and 250 cribs for newborns and eventually handled around 80 births per day during the peak of the baby boom. 
  
Just a few months after its inauguration, quadruplets were born at the clinic—an unusual event that attracted significant media attention and was widely promoted by the Franco regime. Years later, the press continued to follow their lives.

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