The Municipality of Loja, through the Center for Social Support (Casmul), within the program called ‘Student Week’, had success, this year, the distinguished figure of Dr. Vicente Rodríguez Witt, a distinguished physician and impeccable citizen of Lojan, who died on the 30th. March 2006

With this initiative, which was encouraged by the Municipal GAD, students from both elementary and high school levels of education in Loja participated in contests of speaking, painting, performing arts, choreography and science and technology fairs, which were programmed with the aim of relieving the professional career and contributing to the society of such an important person.

Undoubtedly, the main work associated with the life of Vicente Rodríguez Witt has to do with the sacrificial and noble field of medicine, not only with the strengthening – with his great professional reputation and constant inclination to serve – of what is now known as Clínica Hospital San Agustín, but the iconic health center in the history of Loja, but also in the formation of the Society for the Fight against Cancer (Solca) in the south of the country, favoring a broad segment of the population, especially the poor, for help and care against such a cruel disease. His help was so decisive and decisive that the cancer hospital itself bears his name to perpetuate his vision, management and scientific commitment.

It is clear that Vicente Rodríguez Witt was always guided in his work by that aphorism that is typical for doctors with a deep humanistic vocation and that always establishes a special and unbreakable bond with patients: ‘Heal sometimes, relieve often, comfort always’.

(…) He was always guided in his actions by that aphorism that is characteristic of doctors with a deep humanistic vocation…

Likewise, we cannot ignore his decisive step in university teaching, a superb activity with which he successfully trained many promotion doctors from southern Ecuador with technique and values, today respected men and women in the service of the community.

Currently, the children of Vicente Rodríguez Witt and his new generation have taken the lead in further contributions, especially in the field of health and social work; the latter through a non-profit foundation that intervenes with free medical conferences, programming of sports activities, especially athletics, community development and other support services, directed with special emphasis on the most unprotected and vulnerable groups in the area. The border area where there is greater poverty and deprivation.

Therefore, it is likely that the famous municipality of Loja not only dedicated a space, like ‘Student Week’, to the memory and glorification of a person who was and is an example for current and future generations to follow, but also that it recognized the legacy of Vicente Rodríguez Witt through the recent unveiling of his monument located near the Puerta de la Ciudad, which pays him a fair tribute and thus leaves an extraordinary figure for Loja and the southern region. (OR)