Pope blesses second Vatican medical clinic for the poor

The St Martin Clinic was blessed by Pope Leo XIV on November 14 at the start of the Jubilee of the Poor. The facility, for outpatients, was inaugurated by the Pope with the prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski.

The new facility is not far from the existing Mother of Mercy Clinic, which the Vatican operates to provide medical care to people without homes or resources or the legal documents needed to access Italian health care. This clinic was inaugurated by Pope Francis before the Year of Mercy in 2015.

Like the older facility, the St Martin Clinic is operated by the Service of Charity Dicastery in collaboration with the Vatican health service.

The new clinic has two new examination rooms “fitted with state-of-the-art instruments, as well as a new radiology service”, the dicastery said. The “latest-generation X-ray machine will make it possible to diagnose quickly and accurately pneumonia, bone fractures, tumours, degenerative diseases, gallstones and intestinal obstructions – conditions often overlooked in those living in poverty”.

“The early diagnosis of these pathologies will make it possible to begin appropriate treatments in a timely manner, helping to improve the quality of life of those who have nothing,” it said.

The Mother of Mercy clinic already offers flu shots and other vaccines, blood tests and visits with general practitioners, internal medicine specialists and dentists. It also offers a wide range of medications at no cost, dentures, eyeglasses and hearing aids.

Each month, the office of Cardinal Krajewski said, there are more than 2000 patient visits thanks to 120 volunteer physicians, nurses and medical technicians. In the past 10 years, there have been more than 102,000 visits by patients coming from 139 different countries.

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Pope inaugurates second Vatican medical clinic for the poor (CNS)

Pope inaugurates San Martino Outpatient Center at St. Peter’s (Vatican News)