Prof. Dr. Humberto Castro Lima is honored

The services in favor of eye health in Brazil, provided by Prof. Humberto Castro Lima throughout his professional life, were remembered last Friday, July 27, in a ceremony held at the Association Bahiana of Medicine. The tribute was an initiative of the Brazilian Society of Contact Lenses, Cornea and Refractometry (SOBLEC), which, at the time, granted the SOBLEC Commendation, which was received by the director of Bahiana, Prof. Dr. Maria Luisa Soliani.

“Before being a great ophthalmologist, Prof. Humberto was a great doctor, because he saw the patient as a whole. This is part of the doctor's role. The relationship between doctor and patient is exactly what we have encouraged in our undergraduate and graduate courses”, declared Dr. Maria Luisa.

Among the feats of Prof. Humberto, she also highlights her management as director of Bahiana, which was marked by major innovations and the physical expansion of the institution, which now has three academic units. “He was always a man capable of suggesting and accomplishing great deeds, but always with a very good, very special focus, which was to serve others. And serve with joy, with dedication. And he left us a legacy which is the Humberto de Castro Lima Hospital (maintained by the Brazilian Institute of Ophthalmology and Prevention of Blindness)”.

Ophthalmology residents were present, the vice president of SOBLEC, Tania Schaefer, the president of Cremeb, Dr. José Abelardo Menezes, Dr. Nedy Neves, member of the Regional Council of Medicine of Bahia (Cremeb) and professor of medical ethics and bioethics of the Medicine course of Bahiana.

Prof. Humberto Castro Lima

Humberto Castro Lima graduated in 1948 from the Faculty of Medicine of Bahia. In the third year of the course, his interest in Ophthalmology was awakened by the opportunity to work with his brother and teacher, Professor Orlando Castro Lima, an otolaryngologist and respected ophthalmologist. He moved to the United States, in August 1949, where he remained for almost four years as a resident at Passaic General Hospital, in New Jersey, and later at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, the oldest and most traditional eye hospital in America. In the end, he underwent the examinations of the American Board of Ophthalmology and received an invitation to settle permanently in the United States.

In 1959, he created the Brazilian Institute of Ophthalmology and Prevention of Blindness (IBOPC), today responsible for the Humberto Castro Lima Hospital, one of the largest and most respected ophthalmology services in the country, dedicated to care, research and teaching, offering annually , 18 vacancies for resident physicians.

He was General Coordinator of the Foundation Bahiana for Science Development, maintainer of the Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública, from 1992, being responsible for the creation of two new Academic Units, greatly expanding the institution's assistance capacity and increasing the number of courses offered.

Prof. Humberto Castro Lima was born on October 03, 1924 and died on July 1, 2008.