Introduction

The religious origin of Western healthcare is seen in the uniforms worn by nurses, who are also called ‘sisters’ and ‘matrons’. A common socio-political aspect to healthcare through the centuries has been that the poor have always suffered from health inequality. Interest in healthcare has ebbed and flowed with the rise and fall of civilisations and countries; the interest in science, healthcare and medicine tended to increase when a particular civilisation was at its zenith. In Lebanon, for instance, 5,000 years ago sunlight and colours were used in the ancient city of Baalbek for mystical healing practices – as sunlight and colour are used in modern healthcare. Claudius Galen’s work continued to influence Western medical practice and the four humours theory is found today in Unani medicine, prevalent in South East Asia, and also influenced healthcare architecture that takes its cue from Islamic culture which adopted Galen’s theories.