Doing research stays in the Malariology Laboratory of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) with Dr. Filiberto Malagón Gutiérrez, as part of the training period that the teaching assistants had in the Department of Parasitology of the then Autonomous University of Puebla , a good number of boys were able to educate ourselves in a particularly special way. Under the guidance of Antonio Cruz López (May 29, 1938 – July 23, 2017), university life was enriched with unusual activities. Finishing the race, the brightest students “migrated” to the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán (INCMNSZ), which is one of the National Institutes of Health of the Ministry of Health of Mexico that provides third-level medical care to adults.
It was some year at the end of the eighties, when on a visit to that place, in the elevator I ran into a person of particularly venerable age, who, smiling, received greetings from all the doctors who saw him with an attitude of reverence and almost devotion. When I asked who it was, I learned that this old man was neither more nor less than Dr. Salvador Zubirán Anchondo (1898 – 1998), a doctor who undoubtedly constitutes a pillar on which modern medicine in Mexico is based and who, offensively, the mediocre “Wikipedia” has forgotten his ephemeris, this June 10, which marks his death anniversary.
Many things can be said about this distinguished character, whose life began in the town of Cusihuiriachi, Chihuahua, at the end of the last century. Describing his extensive curriculum is impossible in this environment, when a feeling of awe approaches me and over the years makes me clearly perceive the forceful phrase of Salvador Díaz Mirón (1853 – 1928) that expresses: “Merit is the shipwrecked of the soul because alive it sinks, but dead it floats”. And it is that, in 1998, the Congress of Chihuahua changed his name to Cusihuirachi de Salvador Zubirán, in his honor; however, the population rejected the change and the decree was annulled; but this disdain will not be able to overshadow the immense figure of him. It is not about making mention of his life by addressing these painful aspects. Founder of the internationally recognized “Nutrition Hospital”, everything that revolves around this teaching and research center is incredible.
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Income to make a specialty there is not easy. In addition to passing the National Medical Residency Examination, you must be accepted with very high standards of academic quality, so that there is an air of common effort, with the desire to learn more and more. In addition, cordial relations are established with the patients, under intense work, through guards two months a year, with work that begins promptly at 6 in the morning and ends around 12:00 or 1 in the morning, literally requiring living in the hospital, not only learning about the diseases but also establishing affectionate and intimate relationships with the patients, knowing their lives, their feelings and printing the human sense to the care of the sick.
It is noteworthy that, the doctor who enters, receives a training called “Mystic”, raised by Dr. Salvador Zubirán and that, when recruited, one should feel a special pride of belonging to the institute and transmit it to all those who make up the medical staff, generating bonds of friendship that go beyond affection and that will forge feelings equivalent to those of a family.
The values that are promoted revolve around honesty, dedication to service, social commitment, creativity in research, humanism, freedom, respect, empathy, equality, professionalism, ethics and teamwork.
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The creation of this important hospital was not easy and a large number of problems and inconveniences had to be faced, so that the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition, not only emerged as what it is now, but also remains current with a future full of challenges and goals to be achieved. To immerse yourself in its history is to enter a world full of mysticism and spirituality.
On this day, all doctors must honor the memory of Dr. Salvador Zubirán and personally, not stop thinking that, following his example, we will not be irresponsible if we venture too far, but rather, having received a lifetime, let us that the hours spill, in the middle of the routine.
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Note: It is necessary to mention that a large part of this document had as a contribution the experiences of Dr. Norma Meléndez Ponce, a gastroenterologist graduated from the INCMNSZ.
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