Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Fortaleza, Medical heritage institution in Centro district, Fortaleza, Brazil

The Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Fortaleza is a hospital in Fortaleza, the city's first, opened in 1861 with 80 beds and run by the Irmandade Beneficente da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Fortaleza. Its building is listed by the city's historical and cultural heritage office. By 2009 it held 403 beds, 280 of them accredited to the SUS.

Built with public funds granted to the province of Ceará to cope with the last yellow fever epidemic, the Santa Casa opened in 1861 with 80 beds under the Irmandade Beneficente da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Fortaleza. Dr. Joaquim Antônio Ribeiro, a Harvard medical graduate of 1853, was named its first physician on 12 March 1861. During the 1915 drought it took in large numbers of sertanejo refugees, and in 1961 it marked its centenary with 300 beds.

The hospital is run by the Irmandade Beneficente da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Fortaleza, the charitable brotherhood that has maintained it since its opening. In the 1970s its statutes were changed and it was detached from the Archdiocese of Fortaleza. Donations still make up around 30% of its monthly income.

The site is located at a central address and is easily accessible by public transportation. As an active medical facility, visitor access inside is restricted, but the historic exterior can be viewed from the street.

On 29 June 1925 the Santa Casa inaugurated an X-ray apparatus, becoming the first hospital in Ceará to offer a radiology service. The machine arrived ten years after the 1915 drought, when the hospital had taken in crowds of sertanejos fleeing the drought.