Series VI: Medical Sciences – SUPPLEMENT ... - Krongres

D. BARAN: Dr. Victor Gomoiu, Balkan paradigms and lessons of a lifetime 141
and focused on the fight against
alcoholism, tabacco dependence, tuberculosis,
pellagra, malaria, various
infectious or job related diseases, hypnosis.
It aimed at a science- and ethics-based
comprehension of the surrounding world
and facts.
Similar lectures were given by Gomoiu
at the "House of Light" cultural center in
Turnu Severin.
The «Vergului Complex» also known
as the «Princess Elena Establishments»,
was directed by Dr. Gomoiu until 1948,
when it was nationalized, immediatly after
the King`s forced abdication and leave for
exile.
Victor Gomoiu also founded several
tuberculosis preventoria on the Teleajean
Valley, at Brebu and Mâneciu-Ungureni,
the latter bearing now his name
(«Dr.Gomoiu» Preventorium), two others
at Baba Runca and �an�uri, not far from
Bra�ov, and one in Mangalia at the seaside.
[10]
A school was named after him at Vânju
Mare, his birthplace and his bust by Ilie
Berindei stands today in front of this
college.
Following World War II, the «Princess
Elena» Establishments had to be renamed
"Saint Helen" and after the «storm of
nationalization», they became the "30 th
December" Pediatric Hospital. [6, 7]
The latter denomination was a token of
the historic proclamation of the republic in
1947.
In 1990, after the 1989 Romanian
Revolution, the Hospital was rebaptised in
the name of «Dr.Victor Gomoiu». In 2004,
it was enlarged and updated.
It presently counts 184 beds,
departments of pediatric internal medicine,
neurology, otorhinolaryngology, two
compartments of intensive therapy units
and an external section for disabled
children.
Dr. Gomoiu, historian of medicine
and sciences
In 1929, Dr. Gomoiu founded the
Romanian Royal Society for the History of
Medicine, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine
and Medical Folklore (RSHM), another
visionary attempt of this true «Knight of
the Sad Figure» of his time.
Between 1929 and 1946, Dr. Gomoiu
was general secretary, president and
honorary president of the RSHM. The
Society had also a valuable Museum,
decommissioned after 1947. [7]
Valeriu Bologa, a well known
Romanian historian of medicine, too,
confessed in his study “Wheat Grains”
(“Boabe de grâu”) that he himself thought
Gomoiu`s intention of creating a
Romanian Society for the History of
Medicine was quite unrealistic since rather
few medical historians existed by then in
the great academic centers of Romania:
Bucharest, Cluj and Ia�i.
Time instead proved that Gomoiu was
right and his efforts paid off. Professors
Constantin D. Severeanu (1840-1930), the
1 st RSHM president, and Ioan Cantacuzino
supported Gomoiu and the young RSHM.
[6, 10]
In 1932, the RSHM was entrusted with
preparing the IX th Congress of the
International Society for the History of
Medicine (ISHM), to which it was
affiliated.
This first congress took place in
Romania, in Bucharest. The renowned
historian Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940) was
directly involved in the manifestation as its
vice-president. Gomoiu, as president, and
his wife, as general secretary, were the
main organizers of this event. Professor
Cantacuzino (1863-1934), minister of
health (1931-1932), was then the RSHM
president.
The Bucharest Faculty of Medicine
partly tempted to boycott the RSHM and
the Congress, but King Carol II`s support