Background
Pujals Cárdenas was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico and graduated from the University of Barcelona, Spain.
Pujals Cárdenas was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico and graduated from the University of Barcelona, Spain.
He was the first physician with a medical degree title in Ponce, becoming the first medical doctor on the staff at Hospital de Damas, where he worked without pay. He later became the first medical director of Hospital Tricoche. Pujals is considered as the first surgeon to perform an open heart surgery in Puerto Rico.
lieutenant tells of a man who came into the Tricoche Hospital with a stab wound to the heart.
Doctor Pujals sutured the heart of manitoba The patient survived 16 days since succumbed to the infection.
In addition to his private medical practice, Doctor Pujals was also the physician for the famed Ponce Municipal Fire Corps in the last quarter of the 19th century. Pujals also excelled as a civic leader and on 30 June 1877, he became the first director of the reorganized Gabinete Ponceño de Lectura (Ponce Reading Cabinet), an early version of today"s Ponce Public Library.
In 1886 he was also one of the nine cosigners of El Plan de Ponce that Roman Baldorioty de Castro had championed seeking greater political autonomy for Puerto Rico.
He was also an active participant at the Grito de Lares. Pujals died in Ponce on 23 April 1889. The government of Puerto Rico honored Doctor Pujals naming a school in Ponce after him.
He is also recognized for his contributions in civic duty at the Ponce Park for the Illustrious Ponce Citizens.