Ten days ago, Quentin Estrade, a cardiology intern from the Narbonne region, joined the Mykolaiv hospital in southern Ukraine. He immediately heals the wounds of the soldiers, of the civilians who survived the bombings, of all the collateral victims of this war that ravages Eastern Europe. He was the guest on BFMTV this Tuesday morning.
A humanitarian and patriotic impulse
First he returned to what had motivated his departure. The reason is twofold. The first part is humanitarian: “On the one hand, as a doctor because I identify with these young people who are 26 years old like me, from both sides, who kill each other, who live in very difficult situations. He said: ‘If you can bring some peace, some relief from misery, you should do it.'”
The second factor is patriotic: “On the other hand, being also a reservist, in Castelnaudary, in the Foreign Legion, I told myself that if I could also serve the interests of France, I had to do it.”
His contact with a Narbonne association did the rest to send him to the front. Or more exactly a few tens of kilometers behind the fighting, since the Ukrainian counteroffensive has gained ground in the south of the country. This, of course, changes the nature of the care provided on the site, as Quentin Estrade pointed out when describing his activity:
“90% is civil, humanitarian medicine where with very little means we try to do a lot. They recycle syringes that in France are for single use, there they force us to use them again so it is very complicated. And we have 10% war medicine with the wounded who arrive after the bombings.” “They are very tough, dramatic situations, with amputations of limbs and in which we try to do our best,” he continued.
It is also necessary to take care of logistics, and even handling. “Between two bombing alerts, we sometimes go down to unload convoys of humanitarian aid,” he explained. “My boss told me, and I find this phrase very beautiful: ‘You never know what happens, but you know you need it'”.
The psychologist
But the cardiologist is not just a caregiver. Here, listening to the Frenchman counts at least as much as his stethoscope: “More than a medical action, what they take into account is that there is a 26-year-old young man who is capable, nine months after the start of the war, not to forget them, to be by your side, be your psychologist.
He illustrated: “Everyone comes to see me, they talk to me, they tell me very complicated situations in life: the cold, the power cuts, their family in exile for six months, the broken ties with their family in Russia.”
“They tell me about their very hard life and they say: ‘You, in France, in Narbonne, in Toulouse, what do you do after work?’ And that allows them to transmit a little life, energy. They tell me: ‘After the war, we will come to see you in France.’ And I see that it warms their hearts to have this human testimony, this exchange is important to them.”
war and beyond
“The reception is very, very warm, either from the doctors or from the people we are lucky enough to be able to treat, or from Ukrainians in general,” said Quentin Estrade.
Unfortunately, we do not see the end of this invasion. Regardless, the doctor plans to continue treating war wounds even after the end of the conflict. And this, even Russia. “And if for France, for peace and harmony between these two peoples, we should return to Mykolaiv for treatment or after the end of the war in St. Petersburg, I will,” he promised. Suffering, after all, has no uniform.
Source: BFM TV
