A few days ago, the Haiti Donors' lecture concluded in New York. Several weeks have passed since the earthquake that devastated the population of Port-au-Prince last January 12, claiming more than 250,000 dead; leaving 1,000,000 people homeless and hundreds of thousands with physical and psychological consequences in a country where 80% of the population survives on the poverty line.

I have had the opportunity to learn first hand (from the specialists of Clínica Universidad de Navarra who went to Haiti during the first 36 hours after the earthquake) the devastating effects on a very young population. I have been able to hear and see the images that were not shown on the front pages of the newspapers or on the television news; what was "behind" the tapestry of news and reports. An abandoned, terrified population, who wandered as "absentees" in search of financial aid and who crowded their sick, and sometimes dead bodies, at the doors of the few - no more than five - hospitals that remained standing. They all relate that the first thing that caught their attention was the nauseating "stench-smell" resulting from the decomposition and putrefaction of corpses, garbage and organic waste.

A few professionals from Clínica Universidad de Navarra (two anesthesiologists and three general surgeons) and several members of the DYA from Navarra, Samur from Madrid, Sem de Cataluña, etc. were sent there. They arrived in the first 36 hours, in the midst of successive aftershocks of the earthquake. In the first two weeks they attended to more than 2,200 patients, from major interventions to simple cures, deliveries, etc., without running water, without electricity, without respirators. They put the devastated and abandoned Hospital Universitario de La Paz back into operation, returning it almost to normal.

In their assistance task, they implemented safety measures for the patients, avoiding complications and relieving pain. They have rediscovered the value of Ketamine, associated with low doses of benzodiazepines as a hypnotic and analgesic, allowing spontaneous ventilation without complications.

They went there without a moment's hesitation. They found themselves in one of the most tremendous situations of anguish, despair and withdrawal that one can imagine; but they knew how to turn it around (in terms of generosity, of submission) and put themselves in favor of the other. They came back tired, exhausted. I must apologize for not having written these lines earlier, expressing my deep admiration and gratitude to them for showing us the value of generosity, of the audacity of those who forget themselves and go where they are needed. As the days go by and we get to know more data of your activity, the more its value is enhanced. Thank you for reminding us of the true "DNA" of the medical profession. I must ask you to remind me - us - of it and not to let your example fall into oblivion in our calloused sensitivity, often anesthetized, by the liquid society in which we live, more devoted to narcissism and vedettism.