Until the mid-nineteenth century, hospitals as we know them today were virtually non-existent in Belgium. Medical care for most of the population was provided at home by family members or friends, with occasional assistance from a doctor or surgeon. 

Rather than institutions of medical treatment, hospitals were extensions of poor relief. Their primary goal was social: they provided food, shelter, and basic care for the poor, the homeless, and the chronically ill. They were charitable foundations with medieval or early modern origins, administered by municipal governments, and mostly staffed by Catholic nuns or brothers. Physicians only held a secondary role.

Mortality was very high in these institutions. Medical knowledge was rudimentary. Common treatments such as bloodletting, purging, and the use of opium and alcohol were often ineffective and dangerous. Overcrowded, unsanitary conditions further worsened patient outcomes: beds were shared, ventilation was poor, and infectious diseases spread rapidly. As a result, hospitals were commonly viewed as places where people went to die rather than to be cured.