Father Aldo Marchesini - doctor and missionary in Mozambique - official site
Aldo Marchesini was born in Bologna on 10-9-1941
He brilliantly graduated from the Augusto Righi High School of Bologna.
He entered the novitiate of the Congregation of Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehoniani) in 1961. He was ordained a priest on December 27, 1969.
In the meantime he graduated in Medicine in 1966, at the University of Bologna, with 110 cum laude.
Aldo is not only Clinical Director and Tutor of the Specialization in General Surgery of the Hospital of Quelimane, but also Provincial Coordinator of Surgery of Zambesia and of the various health structures that are opening in that region.
Doctors from various countries of the world voluntarily support him for short periods in his hard work.
I asked Aldo if he had kept a statistic of the surgeries performed in all these years of surgical activity in Africa.
This is his answer:
Think, about 20000 Interventions and under what conditions! It is to make any first world surgeon pale!
He brilliantly graduated from the Augusto Righi High School of Bologna.
He entered the novitiate of the Congregation of Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehoniani) in 1961. He was ordained a priest on December 27, 1969.
In the meantime he graduated in Medicine in 1966, at the University of Bologna, with 110 cum laude.
We read directly from one of him who wrote his African history:
Arrived in Africa for the first time on 29 July 1970. Landed in Blantyre in Malawi and entered Mozambique by land from the Milange border. I stayed 4 months to try to understand the world of Mozambique in terms of health. He went around all the missions to choose the place to build the future missionary hospital of the diocese of Quelimane. Mugulama was chosen on the road between Mocuba and Aldo Molócuč.
At the end of October 1970 I left for Uganda to go to Father Giuseppe Ambrosoli, a Comboni surgeon, who had founded and directed the Kalongo hospital in the savannah for 17 years. On my thirtieth birthday September 10, 1971 I fell ill with violent hepatitis B. I had to interrupt and after two months in bed I returned to Italy to recover.
I was convalescing for a few months. In the summer I went to Niguarda to practice and I was inspired to write 'Memories of the Hospital'.
In September 1972 I went to Lisbon to study Portuguese and Tropical Medicine at the University of Lisbon. I stayed exactly one year. On my return they did not give me a visa for Mozambique. The bishop of Lira, Uganda, learned of this and wrote to me to ask me to wait for a visa while working in his hospital in Aber. I arrived there on December 5, 1973 and stayed there until the end of July 1974, when the visa arrived after the carnation revolution in Lisbon.
Before leaving for Mozambique I went to Addis Ababa to take a leprosy clinic course in the ALERT center, 5 miles from the capital. I returned around November 15, 1974 and on November 20 I left for Mozambique, arriving via Lisbon, at Beira airport on November 21, 1974. "
He has therefore already entered the 51 years, 3 months, 10 days of Mozambique e about 54 of Africa!!At the end of October 1970 I left for Uganda to go to Father Giuseppe Ambrosoli, a Comboni surgeon, who had founded and directed the Kalongo hospital in the savannah for 17 years. On my thirtieth birthday September 10, 1971 I fell ill with violent hepatitis B. I had to interrupt and after two months in bed I returned to Italy to recover.
I was convalescing for a few months. In the summer I went to Niguarda to practice and I was inspired to write 'Memories of the Hospital'.
In September 1972 I went to Lisbon to study Portuguese and Tropical Medicine at the University of Lisbon. I stayed exactly one year. On my return they did not give me a visa for Mozambique. The bishop of Lira, Uganda, learned of this and wrote to me to ask me to wait for a visa while working in his hospital in Aber. I arrived there on December 5, 1973 and stayed there until the end of July 1974, when the visa arrived after the carnation revolution in Lisbon.
Before leaving for Mozambique I went to Addis Ababa to take a leprosy clinic course in the ALERT center, 5 miles from the capital. I returned around November 15, 1974 and on November 20 I left for Mozambique, arriving via Lisbon, at Beira airport on November 21, 1974. "
"In early December 1974, given the impossibility of opening a mission hospital, I signed my first contract as a surgeon with the transitional government.
I was temporarily placed in Quelimane, to allow the two Portuguese doctors to spend the holidays in Portugal and prepare for their definitive return to their homeland. On January 30, 1975, I was transferred to Mocuba as the only doctor in the two districts of Mocuba and Lugela. I stayed until July 1976, transferred to Songo-Cahora Bassa. However, I remained stationary in the city of Tete because there was no surgeon in the province.
A Chinese team came and I went to Songo in early November 1976. On July 29, 1980 I returned to Italy for a period of rest and updating.
In May 1981 I returned to Mozambique and stayed in the Maputo Orthopedics until August 20, 1981. I had been placed in Quelimane, and I have remained there for all these years (51)
I was temporarily placed in Quelimane, to allow the two Portuguese doctors to spend the holidays in Portugal and prepare for their definitive return to their homeland. On January 30, 1975, I was transferred to Mocuba as the only doctor in the two districts of Mocuba and Lugela. I stayed until July 1976, transferred to Songo-Cahora Bassa. However, I remained stationary in the city of Tete because there was no surgeon in the province.
A Chinese team came and I went to Songo in early November 1976. On July 29, 1980 I returned to Italy for a period of rest and updating.
In May 1981 I returned to Mozambique and stayed in the Maputo Orthopedics until August 20, 1981. I had been placed in Quelimane, and I have remained there for all these years (51)
Aldo is not only Clinical Director and Tutor of the Specialization in General Surgery of the Hospital of Quelimane, but also Provincial Coordinator of Surgery of Zambesia and of the various health structures that are opening in that region.
Doctors from various countries of the world voluntarily support him for short periods in his hard work.
I asked Aldo if he had kept a statistic of the surgeries performed in all these years of surgical activity in Africa.
This is his answer:
I've never counted them, but I think you can calculate an average of 10 trades per week, for 40 weeks a year. In practice 400 operations a year, but with years in which I exceeded them by a lot ..
Think, about 20000 Interventions and under what conditions! It is to make any first world surgeon pale!