been there done that.....

I was eating dinner and flipping through the television channels at home and suddenly there was something familiar that caught my eye. The channel reception was not good and I could barely see the actors. The information bar on the bottom told me that it was a weekend movie named “The Motorcycle Diary”. I am not too sure wether the last word in the name was singular or plural. I may have been wrong on that. But the important news is that I had watched this movie back in my home country and it was about this Argentina born Cuban revolutionary persona, Che’ Guevara.
So, what is the attention grab in a revolutionary for a wannabe scientist with a bird brain like me?! The only similarity between both of us is the fact that we are both doctors and the parallelism ends right there. Che’ failed the army entrance test because he was an asthmatic. But the failure turned out to be a blessing in disguise. This gave him a chance to join the medical school. During his time as a medical student, he took time off to volunteer as a health care worker even in the presence of his chronic asthmatic condition. He travelled extensively throughout South America on a motorcycle with a biochemist friend volunteering at different medical communities helping them in treating people.
Among them is one instance I remember very vividly is his act of treating leprosy patients in an island in Cambodia and spreading awareness about leprosy to the other unskilled health care workers. The lepers were isolated on a different island which lay across the river and the health workers would cross the river everyday to treat them. Che’ brought about a psychological change in these patients by spending time with them and improving their self confidence. He was their star! Che’ then travelled to other South American countries before finally getting back to medical school to finish his studies.
His revolutionary ideas then made him Fidel Castro’s aide in the Cuban revolution era and the rest is popular history.
Well what I like about Che’ is his daring medical travels that took him to the most unlikely places on this globe which benefited the people in distress. It is amazing to be able to come in contact with the people who are miles away from the nearest health professional let alone a hospital. Health care in many countries is in an impoverished condition and millions die due to lack of health care facilities. For me Che Guevara is a personality who beat the odds which no medical professional would dare doing. I would definitely remember him as a “medical revolutionary” who had, been there and done that!