2023-08-24 02:00:00
A year ago, the Tucuman pediatric environment felt the death of Dr. Miguel Ramón Leguizamón, a professional with a long career, the archetype of the child’s lawyer, the pediatrician, occupied by the social situation, the fellow defender of the doctor’s rights. Welfare doctor and self-taught teacher who never stopped commenting on his readings and transmitting his knowledge to the young residents. I met him in the mid-1970s, when he decided to enter the Children’s Hospital residence. He was returning from being a doctor at the “La Casualidad” mine in the Argentine-Chilean highlands, something he rarely spoke of and when he did, a tide inevitably flooded his eyes. His childhood was hard. His father’s job, which he always accompanied, had given him the chance to experience everything that surrounded the world of breeding and training racehorses. He suddenly went from stud to college, a social and cultural change that was difficult to undertake and sustain during the seven years it took him to graduate, however, there was “Legui”, as we all affectionately and respectfully called him, firm with his principles and ideals. In that nickname, his last name and his touristic origins were united, of which he always felt proud. With the title under his arm, he had to work and that Salta sulfur mine, inhospitable location, in years of good production, seemed attractive to him. The activity at the residence gave him the chance to express himself and soon become the leader who spread optimism, desire to work, and lack of concern for money, even though his life was quite tight. His ideas, his social principles and his origins emerged when the spirits of the group of residents collapsed for different reasons that ranged from the most tragic, the death of a child, to the frequent lack of inputs or the eternal delay in payment of our wages. He accessed the chief resident and then the hospital’s first intermediate therapy ward. He was part of the management of the hospital together with Dr. Nélida Cusa and after that administrative experience he was, until his retirement, for many years, head of the clinical department. He could tell multiple anecdotes of moments lived but I am going to refer to only one that shows his integrity as a man, as a doctor and as a son of this land. If we look at the Niño Jesús hospital building from the old “plaza de los burros” (today Los Decididos de Tucumán), we realize that it looks like a steamer with its two “chimneys”. In the late 70’s it was a drifting ship. Wards packed with small patients with diarrhoea, dehydrated and malnourished. Unbearable heat. Children crucified with their unsafe venoclysis. Bloody venous channels. Unfulfillable hydration and refeeding plans. Swollen bellies. unexpected deaths. Apocalyptic reality that had to be faced every morning when, at the pass, the guard comrades recounted their anguishing nocturnal experiences. In the midst of the unease and sadness there was always the word of hope and the voice of encouragement from “Legui”, who asked to redouble efforts. It was the comment on one of his scientific readings that led us to the Lactobacilli Reference Center (CeReLa). That torrid siesta in February 1980, Dr. Guillermo Oliver and Dr. Aída Pesce, directors of the institution, together with their team, learned about the pressing hospital reality and our weak theory of “intestinal biological combat” among the intestinal flora of small children. children (escherichia coli – salmonella – klebsielas, etc) and the lactobacillus strain discovered by Dr. Oliver. The hosts rehearsed a concise account of the properties of Lactobacillus Casei and questioned its usefulness for preventing or treating childhood diarrhea. So much was our anguish and impatience that, paradoxically, the languid comment turned into a challenge. Knowing the innocuousness of its administration and perhaps with the intention of ingratiating themselves, they offered us the supply of lactobacillus inoculum free of charge with the sole condition of delivering fecal matter samples from the children, in which, shortly after starting, the lactobacillus was isolated. . This proposal to treat diarrheal and malnourished children with a lactobacillus inoculum that we called “Cerela Milk” was an unprecedented experience in our country and later gave rise to the probiotic milks that are so in vogue today. Some time later, Conicet sold the patent for the discovery to Sancor and then it began to be marketed as Leche Bio. It was the concern of “Legui” to find some way to avoid deaths from the scourge of gastroenterocolitis and malnutrition of small children, added to his impetus and his dedication and effort that led him to exercise a different approach to this scourge that so many lives. It was claimed in the 1970s and 1980s. Today, one year after his physical disappearance, all of us colleagues remember him sad for his departure but grateful for having shared the life and dreams of a man who never stopped looking at every step he took. to others so as not to distance themselves from their needs. RIP dear “Legui” and may the eternal smile of a grateful child shine for you.
#year #departure #Miguel #Leguizamón