2023-07-05 05:01:00
Doctors can find information in the Guayas Historical Archive, for example, about the first vaccines that arrived in Guayaquil; of the epidemics that once ravaged this city; and diseases that remain in force such as dengue and tuberculosis; says the research doctor, Gustavo Vicente Cáceres Castro.
Given the imminent seizure of the Guayaquil Historical Archive properties in Guayas, due to a legal dispute with the Central Bank of Ecuador, the Guayaquil community and especially researchers and those of us who make daily use of its sources of historical content, we are alarmed. for the consequences that may result from taking such an ill-advised action.
The conservation of the books, documents, memories, as well as the photographic material, etc., of the Guayas Historical Archive, all of invaluable importance, are not the product of improvisation, but of careful maintenance of said space, taking into account the order and air conditioning, in order to be able to perpetuate them. The multidisciplinary information that our Archive has, such as that related to medicine, has allowed professionals in this science to establish monitoring parameters for such emblematic diseases and epidemics, such as smallpox (1531), yellow fever (1740), malaria (1526) and syphilis, which once devastated Guayaquil; as well as others that remain valid such as dengue and tuberculosis (1802). This institution is also a reference for the first vaccines that arrived in Guayaquil, such as smallpox (1806) and drugs such as quinine sulfate against malaria (1824). The stories of the first hospitals, such as the Santa Catalina Mártir (1564) direct predecessor of the current Luis Vernaza, and of the first doctors, such as José Mascote, Ignacio Hurtado, César Borja, Alejo Lascano and Julián Coronel, among others, could not have been be combined without the contribution of their patrimonial memories. An exhortation is made to the competent institutions so that this situation against the Archive does not prosper for the good of the Guayaquil citizens and their historical heritage. (EITHER)
Gustavo Cáceres Castro, research cardiologist, Guayaquil
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