Piero Corti
Encyclopedia
Piero Corti was an Italian doctor who chose to work in a hospital in Uganda
most of his lifetime.
, who would go on to be a famous writer and essayist, 4 years elder than him. Piero grew up in a relatively wealthy family, because it had invested in the silk trade at first and then it had moved into the building market.
At the age of 7 he developed a severe case of pneumonia
, so he was sent by his parents in a college in Stresa
, on Lago (Lake) Maggiore
, with his brothers to recover. He came back to Besana during the Second World War. After a bombardment over Milan, his father sent Piero and his brother Giovanni to check their apartment there, and even in that circumstance the teenager showed a clinical gaze at death.
belief and his unselfish soul developed in him the desire to be a doctor, and in particular a doctor in foreign lands.
Despite his friends' skepticism, Piero enrolled in the school of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Milan
, where he graduated. There, in Milan, he met a young girl, Benedetta Bianchi Porro, who was studying medicine to live her life in Africa as a missionary
. Piero, who was in love with her sister Manuela, a famous dancer, despite the age gap, was very close to that girl and when he discovered that she was ill, he promised that he would become a doctor in Africa for her and he would work for two.
After graduation, he followed a friend's advice, Agatha Sidlauskas, a psychologist who he met in Italy through her collaboration with Father Agostino Gemelli, and he moved to Canada where he got the specializations in radiology
, neuropsychiatry
and
pediatrics
at Hôpital Sainte Justine pour les enfants in Montreal
.
There, during his studies, he met another Canadian colleague who was specializing in surgery, Lucille Teasdale, who had wanted to be a doctor to fight injustice since she was a child and she seemed perfect to Piero for his future projects.
, Piero told Lucille about his seven months in India
and Africa
, where he had rejoined brother Corrado, a missionary in Chad
, and he managed to convince Lucille to go with him for some months to Uganda.
On the 1 May 1961 Piero and Lucille landed together in Entebbe
, capital city of Uganda as a British protectorate
, where brother Toni Biasin, a combonian missionary, was waiting for them to bring them to Kampala
, the city where the surgeon Denis Burkitt operated. He sent them to Gulu
, where Combonian fathers had built some dispensaries. They settled down in Lacor, a small village 11 m far from Gulu, on the land of the Acholi tribe.
The dispensary, run by Combonian sisters who worked there as nurses and widwives, was originally composed of just one pavilion which had a surgery and at least 40 maternity beds. There Lucille began to work as a surgeon and Piero was the anesthetist, the radiologist and the manager.
They fell in love and got married in the chapel of the hospital on the 5 December 1961; on the 17th November 1962 Lucille gave birth to their daughter Dominique.
As well as the ordinary work and the sanitary business, there was the effort to find funding for the hospital.
Piero started an epistolary correspondence with many people, doing several journeys to Europe
; he was often in Italy
to raise money for medical equipment.
The best therapy, at the less price for the greatest number of people, was his motto.
In that period very important doctors passed by St.Mary's Hospital, such as Doctor Arshad Warley, South African pediatrician
and professor at Makerere University
.
, who broke the constitution, banished president Mutesa and proclaimed himself new president, then accused of smuggling with captain of Uganda Army Amin Dada, who became General in 1966. When he knew that Obote wanted to arrest him, organized an uprising and assumed power in 1971. There were many clushes between Amin Dada's troops and Obote's supporters and he sheltered in the near Tanzania
.
The hospital, which was in the middle of the war outbreak, has been raid several times. In this climate of terror, Piero and Lucille decided to send away their daughter, to ensure her a better education, so Dominique moved to Italy
.
Despite difficulties, doctor Corti's work kept on well; at the end of 60s the little hospital was enlarged and modernized, new divisions were set up with two theaters, after the authorization of President Amin Dada who visited the hospital in 1976, new doctors came from Entebbe and even from Italy, a nursery school was opened.
Thanks to italin help, Piero could realize another project: health prevention to avoid the bad kwashiorkor syndrome and he was helped especially by Claude Desjardins and his wife Suzanne.
.
Meanwhile Piero was becoming more and more estimated among acoli tribe, in fact during an ambush to the hospital, when a soldier threatened to kill doctor Corti, a woman from the tribe saved him.
Keen on hunting and mountaineering since he was a child, with his friends Enrico Citterio and Paolo Della Porta, met at university, Piero decided a climbing of Cervino mountain, that was held on august 1981, despite the initial skepticism of Lucille. Just one year before another promising doctor came to Lacor, Wilson Carswell, Scottish professor at Makerere University, who contributed to make the hospital a qualified center for the training of young doctors from Uganda.
Meanwhile, the first important awards come: Piero and Lucille were promoted " Ufficiali dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" in 1981.
In 1982, Piero had a weak heart attack and during his convalescence he met a young black doctor Matthew Lukwiya
, who graduated at Makerere University and was specialized in the diagnosis and the treatment of childhood cancers. He was as well an expert of AIDS
, a disease which was spreading quickly in Uganda and in other parts of Africa.
Matthew became Piero's best colleague, working hard and very close to him and Lucille, who knew, despite his lack of experience, he had a background knowledge better than theirs.
In 1983 the two were at vatican City
invited by the Pope
John Paul II, who congratulated with them for their work in Africa; and while struggles in Kampala
were getting more and more cruel and made victims every minute, Piero and Lucille were invited to Ginevra to collect the Sasakawa prize from OMS, won because of their appeal to volunteers and midwives in the fight against malnutrition and their organization of "vaccination safaris" in the Northern Uganda territory.
People conditions were exasperated by a devastating epidemic of enterocolitis
and many people, terrified, went to shamans who, with their rites, worsened the patiens, forced to go urgently to the hospital, which, despite difficulties to find equipments, continued to be expanded wiyh new labs, a physiotherapy department and a library.
After the clushes, by the way, only the pediatrics division was full of patiens, replaced by refugees who had nowhere else to go.
On the 7th April 1987 Piero gathered ancient acoli members to decide about the future of the hospital and they suggested a temporary close of it, which was realized after Matthew kidnapping by Upda troops. At Lacor were accepted just the most severe cases and Lucille was busy with the most various operations.
After a six weeks close, finally the hospital was reopened and the direction was given to Matthew while Dominique and her parents went to Japan
for a conference.
On the 19th September 1993 Piero had a second heart attack which convinced him to have a rest, spending a couple of weeks with Lucille in a clinic in the Alps
.
In 1995, the "Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei" assigned to Lacor Hospital the "Feltrinelli prize" awarding an exceptional and high humanitarian value enterprise.
On the 1st May 1995 President Yoweri Museveni
inaugurated the pavilion which would host the outpatient service.
, Lucille died after many years of illness and suffering.
Piero, left alone, hoped for Matthew's help, but unfortunately, even his best doctor in Lacor Hospital and intimate friend died because of pulmonary haemorrhage due to Ebola
virus. It was December the 5th, 2000.
Doctor Corti kept his struggle for St. Mary's Hospital, that today counts over 300,000 patients every year and has been chosen to represent the battle against AIDS in Africa, because it has been the first hospital that has identified and confirmed the first AIDS case to the Uganda Ministry of Health.
From 1993 a new tuberculosis department has been inaugurated and today it hosts many seropositive patients.
On March 2002 Piero married Argia, a friend of his childhood with whom he shared his last years.
After many operations to the coronary arteries, Piero died on the 2nd April 2003 in Milan because of a pancreas cancer. He was 77 and he had spent 42 years of his life as a missionery in Africa.
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
most of his lifetime.
Childhood between war and illnesses
Piero Corti, whose real name was Pietro, was born in Besana in Brianza on 16 September 1925. His father was Mario Corti, and his brothers included Eugenio CortiEugenio Corti
Eugenio Corti is an Italian writer. After participating in the Italian retreat from Russia in World War II, he joined the Italian Freedom Fighters...
, who would go on to be a famous writer and essayist, 4 years elder than him. Piero grew up in a relatively wealthy family, because it had invested in the silk trade at first and then it had moved into the building market.
At the age of 7 he developed a severe case of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
, so he was sent by his parents in a college in Stresa
Stresa
Stresa is a town and comune of about 5,000 inhabitants on the shores of the Lago Maggiore in the region of Piedmont, northern Italy; it is situated on the road and rail routes to the Simplon pass, about 90 km north-west of Milan. Since the early 20th century, the main source of income has been the...
, on Lago (Lake) Maggiore
Lake Maggiore
Lake Maggiore is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest of Italy and largest of southern Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three great prealpine lakes of Italy, it extends for about 70 km between Locarno and Arona.The climate is mild...
, with his brothers to recover. He came back to Besana during the Second World War. After a bombardment over Milan, his father sent Piero and his brother Giovanni to check their apartment there, and even in that circumstance the teenager showed a clinical gaze at death.
Young doctor
His deep ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
belief and his unselfish soul developed in him the desire to be a doctor, and in particular a doctor in foreign lands.
Despite his friends' skepticism, Piero enrolled in the school of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Milan
University of Milan
The University of Milan is a higher education institution in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe, with about 62,801 students, a teaching and research staff of 2,455 and a non-teaching staff of 2,200....
, where he graduated. There, in Milan, he met a young girl, Benedetta Bianchi Porro, who was studying medicine to live her life in Africa as a missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
. Piero, who was in love with her sister Manuela, a famous dancer, despite the age gap, was very close to that girl and when he discovered that she was ill, he promised that he would become a doctor in Africa for her and he would work for two.
After graduation, he followed a friend's advice, Agatha Sidlauskas, a psychologist who he met in Italy through her collaboration with Father Agostino Gemelli, and he moved to Canada where he got the specializations in radiology
Radiology
Radiology is a medical specialty that employs the use of imaging to both diagnose and treat disease visualized within the human body. Radiologists use an array of imaging technologies to diagnose or treat diseases...
, neuropsychiatry
Neuropsychiatry
Neuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system. It preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training....
and
pediatrics
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...
at Hôpital Sainte Justine pour les enfants in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
There, during his studies, he met another Canadian colleague who was specializing in surgery, Lucille Teasdale, who had wanted to be a doctor to fight injustice since she was a child and she seemed perfect to Piero for his future projects.
When dreams come true
After some intimacy, Piero and Lucille did not met for a period in which Piero was searching for a place where he could realize his dream. When they met again in MarseilleMarseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, Piero told Lucille about his seven months in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, where he had rejoined brother Corrado, a missionary in Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, and he managed to convince Lucille to go with him for some months to Uganda.
On the 1 May 1961 Piero and Lucille landed together in Entebbe
Entebbe
Entebbe is a major town in Central Uganda. Located on a Lake Victoria peninsula, the town was at one time, the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda, prior to Independence in 1962...
, capital city of Uganda as a British protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
, where brother Toni Biasin, a combonian missionary, was waiting for them to bring them to Kampala
Kampala
Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...
, the city where the surgeon Denis Burkitt operated. He sent them to Gulu
Gulu
Gulu is a city in Northern Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The city is located at 2˚46'48N 32˚18'00E, on the metre gauge railway from Tororo to Pakwach. Gulu is located approximately , by road, north of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city...
, where Combonian fathers had built some dispensaries. They settled down in Lacor, a small village 11 m far from Gulu, on the land of the Acholi tribe.
The dispensary, run by Combonian sisters who worked there as nurses and widwives, was originally composed of just one pavilion which had a surgery and at least 40 maternity beds. There Lucille began to work as a surgeon and Piero was the anesthetist, the radiologist and the manager.
They fell in love and got married in the chapel of the hospital on the 5 December 1961; on the 17th November 1962 Lucille gave birth to their daughter Dominique.
As well as the ordinary work and the sanitary business, there was the effort to find funding for the hospital.
Piero started an epistolary correspondence with many people, doing several journeys to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
; he was often in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to raise money for medical equipment.
The best therapy, at the less price for the greatest number of people, was his motto.
In that period very important doctors passed by St.Mary's Hospital, such as Doctor Arshad Warley, South African pediatrician
Pediatrics
Pediatrics or paediatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents. A medical practitioner who specializes in this area is known as a pediatrician or paediatrician...
and professor at Makerere University
Makerere University
Makerere University , Uganda's largest and second-oldest higher institution of learning, , was first established as a technical school in 1922. In 1963 it became the University of East Africa, offering courses leading to general degrees from the University of London...
.
The civil war
On October 1962, almost one year later their arrival in Uganda, the former British protectorate reached the independence; there were years of political clashes with the rise of the Prime Minister Milton OboteMilton Obote
Apolo Milton Obote , Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and President of Uganda from 1966 to 1971, then again from 1980 to 1985. He was a Ugandan political leader who led Uganda towards independence from the British colonial administration in 1962.He was overthrown by Idi Amin in 1971, but...
, who broke the constitution, banished president Mutesa and proclaimed himself new president, then accused of smuggling with captain of Uganda Army Amin Dada, who became General in 1966. When he knew that Obote wanted to arrest him, organized an uprising and assumed power in 1971. There were many clushes between Amin Dada's troops and Obote's supporters and he sheltered in the near Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
.
The hospital, which was in the middle of the war outbreak, has been raid several times. In this climate of terror, Piero and Lucille decided to send away their daughter, to ensure her a better education, so Dominique moved to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Despite difficulties, doctor Corti's work kept on well; at the end of 60s the little hospital was enlarged and modernized, new divisions were set up with two theaters, after the authorization of President Amin Dada who visited the hospital in 1976, new doctors came from Entebbe and even from Italy, a nursery school was opened.
Thanks to italin help, Piero could realize another project: health prevention to avoid the bad kwashiorkor syndrome and he was helped especially by Claude Desjardins and his wife Suzanne.
The show must go on
In 1975 Dominique asked his parents to come back to Africa and they decided for her to study in a college in NairobiNairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
.
Meanwhile Piero was becoming more and more estimated among acoli tribe, in fact during an ambush to the hospital, when a soldier threatened to kill doctor Corti, a woman from the tribe saved him.
Keen on hunting and mountaineering since he was a child, with his friends Enrico Citterio and Paolo Della Porta, met at university, Piero decided a climbing of Cervino mountain, that was held on august 1981, despite the initial skepticism of Lucille. Just one year before another promising doctor came to Lacor, Wilson Carswell, Scottish professor at Makerere University, who contributed to make the hospital a qualified center for the training of young doctors from Uganda.
Meanwhile, the first important awards come: Piero and Lucille were promoted " Ufficiali dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" in 1981.
In 1982, Piero had a weak heart attack and during his convalescence he met a young black doctor Matthew Lukwiya
Matthew Lukwiya
Dr. Matthew Lukwiya was a Ugandan physician and the supervisor of St. Mary's Hospital Lacor, outside of Gulu. He was at the forefront of the 2000 ebola outbreak and the first doctor to die of the disease.-Biography:...
, who graduated at Makerere University and was specialized in the diagnosis and the treatment of childhood cancers. He was as well an expert of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, a disease which was spreading quickly in Uganda and in other parts of Africa.
Matthew became Piero's best colleague, working hard and very close to him and Lucille, who knew, despite his lack of experience, he had a background knowledge better than theirs.
In 1983 the two were at vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
invited by the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
John Paul II, who congratulated with them for their work in Africa; and while struggles in Kampala
Kampala
Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...
were getting more and more cruel and made victims every minute, Piero and Lucille were invited to Ginevra to collect the Sasakawa prize from OMS, won because of their appeal to volunteers and midwives in the fight against malnutrition and their organization of "vaccination safaris" in the Northern Uganda territory.
People conditions were exasperated by a devastating epidemic of enterocolitis
Enterocolitis
Enterocolitis is an inflammation of the colon and small intestine. However, most conditions are categorized as one or the other of the following:* Enteritis is the inflammation of the small intestine...
and many people, terrified, went to shamans who, with their rites, worsened the patiens, forced to go urgently to the hospital, which, despite difficulties to find equipments, continued to be expanded wiyh new labs, a physiotherapy department and a library.
After the clushes, by the way, only the pediatrics division was full of patiens, replaced by refugees who had nowhere else to go.
On the 7th April 1987 Piero gathered ancient acoli members to decide about the future of the hospital and they suggested a temporary close of it, which was realized after Matthew kidnapping by Upda troops. At Lacor were accepted just the most severe cases and Lucille was busy with the most various operations.
After a six weeks close, finally the hospital was reopened and the direction was given to Matthew while Dominique and her parents went to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
for a conference.
New climbs, new illnesses, new awards
Once again Piero wanted to climb, so after many tests to prove his health, he left for the Ruwenzori in 1991, while Lucille was worsening because of AIDS, that she contracted after an operation.On the 19th September 1993 Piero had a second heart attack which convinced him to have a rest, spending a couple of weeks with Lucille in a clinic in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
.
In 1995, the "Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei" assigned to Lacor Hospital the "Feltrinelli prize" awarding an exceptional and high humanitarian value enterprise.
On the 1st May 1995 President Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is a Ugandan politician and statesman. He has been President of Uganda since 26 January 1986.Museveni was involved in the war that deposed Idi Amin Dada, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985...
inaugurated the pavilion which would host the outpatient service.
Last tragic events
In 1996 a tragic event marked Piero's life: on the 1st August, being awarded membership of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of CanadaRoyal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada ' , French: Collège royal des médecins et chirurgiens du Canada, is a national, private, nonprofit organization established in 1929 by a special Act of Parliament to oversee the medical education of specialists in Canada...
, Lucille died after many years of illness and suffering.
Piero, left alone, hoped for Matthew's help, but unfortunately, even his best doctor in Lacor Hospital and intimate friend died because of pulmonary haemorrhage due to Ebola
Ebola
Ebola virus disease is the name for the human disease which may be caused by any of the four known ebolaviruses. These four viruses are: Bundibugyo virus , Ebola virus , Sudan virus , and Taï Forest virus...
virus. It was December the 5th, 2000.
Doctor Corti kept his struggle for St. Mary's Hospital, that today counts over 300,000 patients every year and has been chosen to represent the battle against AIDS in Africa, because it has been the first hospital that has identified and confirmed the first AIDS case to the Uganda Ministry of Health.
From 1993 a new tuberculosis department has been inaugurated and today it hosts many seropositive patients.
On March 2002 Piero married Argia, a friend of his childhood with whom he shared his last years.
After many operations to the coronary arteries, Piero died on the 2nd April 2003 in Milan because of a pancreas cancer. He was 77 and he had spent 42 years of his life as a missionery in Africa.