A VERY LARGE DROP IN THE OCEAN

As most of the world watches, seemingly helplessly, events in Afghanistan today, Italy mourns the loss of a very rare man, someone who, seeing suffering and seeing need, was determined and able to do something about it - the humanitarian and surgeon Gino Strada, who died on 13th August at the age of 73.

After becoming a heart-lung transplant surgeon, Gino Strada worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross before founding, with his wife and colleagues, the medical humanitarian organisation Emergency in 1994. He wanted to help not only direct victims of war, but also those who, because of war, had no access to healthcare and therefore became medically vulnerable. He saw access to free healthcare as a human right. His first project with Emergency was in Rwanda during the genocide and he spent seven years in Afghanistan, opening a much-needed maternity centre there which was recognised by the Afghan Ministry of Health. He also opened a cardiac surgery centre in Khartoum (Sudan) and worked on many other projects in numerous countries. 

Gino Strada continued to speak out and demonstrate against fascism even in his last years and the people of Afghanistan were in his thoughts until the end. Of war he said,

In his book Pappagalli Verdi, Gino Strada wrote,

Quel che facciamo per loro, noi e altri, quel che possiamo fare con le nostre forze, è forse meno di una gocciolina nell’oceano. Ma resto dell’idea che è meglio che ci sia, quella gocciolina, perché se non ci fosse sarebbe peggio per tutti.

What we, and others, do for them, what we can do with the strength that we have, is perhaps less than a small drop in the ocean. But I still believe that it is better that this small drop is there, because if it wasn't the situation would probably be worse for everyone.

- A very large drop, in my opinion, Doctor Strada.

Gino Strada

21 April 1948 - 13 August 2021

SUMMER TIDES - 7

Another week brings another tragedy, this time involving a migrant boat off Al Khums [Homs], about 100 miles east of Tripoli. The Libyan Navy managed to save 22 people who were clinging to the remains of the wreckage but it is estimated that 100 are missing. So far 20 bodies have been recovered.

The boat, which was, as usual, inadequate, was carrying around 155 passengers and was heading for Italy. It is not yet known what caused it to capsize but it is thought that the passengers might have suddenly all moved to one side or that the condition of the boat led to the tragedy. Survivors say it was very old.

Over 800 African migrants arrived in Italy on Tuesday alone and of these 192, including three pregnant women, were rescued by the Italian Navy north of Libya. A petrol tanker sailing under a Bahamas flag saved 114 Somali migrants and Mare Nostrum operatives saved a further 404, including a pregnant woman and four newborn babies.  All have been taken to Puglia.

Today 95 male migrants, including 40 minors, have been saved south of Lampedusa in another Mare Nostrum operation. These migrants have been taken to Palermo and will be transferred to other centres in Italy after 48 hours [the time needed for initial identification and assessment, including medical checks].

Also today Ragusa police have arrested three men on suspicion of aiding illegal immigration - that is, of being people traffickers.

But let us end on a heartwarming note with a tale that renews one's faith in Italy: a few days ago a young woman named Naima, who had arrived in Italy on a migrant boat with her parents and husband in September 2013, went into labour at the Cara di Mineo Centre for Asylum Seekers [Catania]. She was first taken to hospital in Caltagirone, where doctors discovered that the baby was suffering from a rare and serious intestinal malformation. Naima would need surgery and time was of the essence. She was immediately transferred by helicopter to the Policlinico di Palermo and there an interdisciplinary team were able to save the baby, who is now well and basking in their attention and affection. The lead surgeon says the baby boy will not need to be in hospital for long. Naima and her husband want to stay in Italy and are waiting for documents that will allow them to do so. Meanwhile, welcome to the world, little one and well done, Caltagirone and Palermo!

SOMETHING IN THE "ERBE"

Hats off to the person who had the idea of planting a herb garden all around Modica's new shopping centre, La Fortezza:

The herbs are planted in neat, clearly labelled rows 

and this week we learned that there may be more to the herb below right than meets the eye:

Oregano, say researchers in the US, has properties which can combat prostrate cancer.  The herb is used a lot in cookery here and this is how we buy it in its dried form.  [It is the only culinary herb I know of which is better dried than fresh.]

So maybe that's why cleaning lady Rosa's 90-year-old male clients still have the energy to chase her around the kitchen!

ARE SICILIAN MEN GOING GAGA?

You can find out by reading my article today on the Times of Sicily site!

ADDIO A SALVATORE LICITRA

It is with great sadness, today,  that I write of the death of the tenor Salvatore Licitra, the man hailed as "Pavarotti's heir" and a great favourite at many major opera venues worldwide.

On August 27th Salvatore Licitra, who was aged 43,  was critically injured in a motorcycle accident in Donnalucata [Ragusa] where he was on holiday.  He was treated first at Modica's Ospedale Maggiore before being transferred to Catania, where he remained in a coma for nine days.  Mr Licitra was pronounced dead yesterday morning.

Mr Licitra's organs have been donated for transplant and three lives have already been saved:  his liver was given to a 53-year-old man from Catania and his kidneys to a 57-year-old from Palermo and a 37-year-old man from Pizzo di Barcellona [Messina].  Mr Licitra's corneae have been donated to an eye bank.  Mr Licitra's brother said today that the singer had always been generous and would have wanted this.

Salvatore Licitra was born to Italian parents in Bern, Switzerland and his family originates from Acate in Ragusa Province. On September 3rd Mr Licitra was awarded the Ragusani nel mondo prize in absentia.

I know that your thoughts, like mine, will be with Salvatore Licitra's family at this sad time.

Salvatore Licitra - O Sole Mio

SOME UNUSUAL SIGHTSEEING

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I have been the recipient of some strange  invitations since I moved to Sicily but I think the  strangest must be the unexpected one I received this morning:  bumping into a friend of mine who is a gastroenterologist, I was prevailed upon to  go with him to his departmental waiting room in the hospital  to view a display of the objects he has removed from patients' stomachs over the years.  

A splendid array of plastic jars contained nails, screws, items of jewellery, curtain clips, coins, ring-pulls and batteries:  the Modicani, it seems, love to swallow batteries and they don't consume them one at a time! The average, I discovered, is six in one go and not all of these were small batteries of the kind that might power a toothbrush - which brings me to the weirdest specimen:  I should have thought it would be rather challenging to swallow a conventional, adult-sized toothbrush but one patient obviously hadn't met with any difficulty at all and there the object was, still intact and proudly displayed on a shelf all to itself.   Few of the patients, said my friend, had been children.

I shouldn't think that the display would cheer you up much if you were waiting for a colonoscopy but it is certainly one of the sights of Modica!

ITALY MAGAZINE ROUND-UP - 19

Here is my pick of last week's Italy Magazine articles:

First of all, there are only 65 shopping days left until Christmas and a good place to head in order to solve those present problems would be the Oh bej, Oh bej! Christmas market in Milan.

Still with Christmas shopping, maybe the man in your life needs this and this CD is definitely going to be on my own wish list.  The most amazing news of the week from Italy was this surgical breakthrough  whilst a completely different kind of breakthrough occurred on Friday.  I liked the honest logic of this Northern League supporter and,  at the risk of losing my feminist credentials, I cannot help hoping that this film will soon be released outside France.

For my Patti Chiari column, I wrote in more detail about the Prickly Pear Festival at Militello and explained the linguistic confusion surrounding the term mostarda.

Happy reading.

ITALY MAGAZINE ROUND-UP - 18

Here is my pick of last week's Italy Magazine articles:

We'll start with the news stories tonight:  The issue of the burqa made headlines again as Italy clarified its proposed new law which would ban the face veil.  The children of  Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the Iranian woman who has been condemned to death for adultery and the alleged murder of her husband, turned to Italy first to ask for asylum when they felt themselves to be under threat. I understand that they are now under arrest in Iran. This was also the week in which Italian surgeons gave a teenager a permanent artificial heart and what may be the world's smallest apartment went on sale in Rome.  The organisers of the 2011 Sanremo Song Festival look set to abandon the tradition of the blonde female presenter or co-presenter and the Milanese argued over this statue.

Our blog of the week was The Artichoke Blog and, as I always make a terrible mess when preparing these vegetables, I was relieved when Michael told me that this is OK!  Staying with food, for my travel article I wrote about some of the best chestnut festivals in Italy at this time of year.  And last but definitely not least, I very much enjoyed interviewing Katia Amore of the loveSicily Cookery School and blog for my Patti Chiari column.  Do take a look to find out why Modicans began cooking with chocolate and what Katia thinks about the future of Sicilian cooking.

Happy reading.

BRILLIANCE VERSUS BUREAUCRACY

This is an article of mine published in Italy Magazine yesterday.  I offer the whole of it here as it shows how frustrating some of Italy's bureaucratic procedures can be and not just over minor , day to day matters:

Two patients suffering from trachea cancer, a 31-year-old Czech woman and a 19-year-old British woman, received successful trachea [windpipe] transplants using their own stem cells in Italy during July. This is the first time such a procedure has been carried out in Italy but the technique was pioneered by a Swiss-born Italian doctor two years ago in Spain.

Dr Paolo Macchiarini headed the team of forty doctors and nurses during the ten-hour operations using donor windpipes which had been stripped of their cells and then injected with regenerated tissue from the noses and bone marrow of the two patients. The stem cells will take two to three months to grow but the tracheae are functional. The patients will not need anti-rejection drugs because the tracheae contain their own tissue.

In another first for Italy, the patients received radiation therapy during the operations in order to reduce the risk of recidivous tumours.

The British patient was able to speak three or four days after the operation, said a spokesman at the Careggi University Hospital in Florence. Both patients have now been discharged and the Czech patient is the mother of a five-month-old baby.

Dr Macchiarini told a press conference that the technique could, in the future, be used on other organs.

You would imagine, then, that all at the Careggi are happy and of course they are, with regard to the result of the surgery.  However, with regard to Dr Macchiarini, an enormous row, now dubbed “il giallo di Macchiarini” [“The Macchiarini Mystery”] by the media, has developed:  Dr Macchiarini [51] joined the   Careggi as Head of the Department of General Thoracic and Regenerative Surgery and Intrathoracic Biotransplantation earlier this year from the University of Barcelona, where he was Head of Thoracic Surgery.  According to his statement, he was offered both a clinical and a teaching post but the University post, which he had hoped would allow him to train talented young doctors in his techniques, has not materialised. He was also promised research funding from several sources but only the Region of Tuscany has so far kept its promise.

Dr Macchiairini is frustrated with Italian bureaucratic procedures in the academic world and says he does not understand why, after four meetings of the Academic Board at the Careggi, he has still not officially been offered the University post. The somewhat embarrassed President of the Careggi has said that certain procedures have to be followed in all Italian universities and the main stumbling block seems to be that Dr Macchiarini has not been a candidate in Italy’s complicated series of written competitions for academic posts. Dr Macchiarini sweeps this reasoning aside, saying that the University of London and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm only had to read his CV to offer him a post.

Now Dr Macchiarini has accepted an academic post at the Karolinska Institute, although he will not yet abandon his medical work at the Careggi. A new contract, which will allow him to work in both locations, is being drawn up by the Careggi.

The President of the Tuscan Region, Enrico Rossi, who was instrumental in persuading Dr Macchiarini to return to Italy, has expressed his disappointment at the fact that it will not be possible for Dr Macchiarini to establish a specialist medical school in Italy and his sincere hope that the “super surgeon” will not leave the Careggi entirely.

Do you sympathise with Dr Macchiarini or the University Board?