My lifelong friend, Frank, died in 2005. In his will he left a 3.1-carat European cut diamond ring to my wife. The ring belonged to Frank’s mother, who had the ring hidden with friends in June 1944. Days later, Frank’s mother and father, along with 2500 children, women, and men over 65 years of age were deported from the city of Szeged, Hungary. They were all Hungarian citizens of Jewish heritage. By a strange fate, two carriages of their train to Auschwitz were detached and rerouted to Austria to a labor camp near Gostling an der Ybbs.

Your 2019 mini profile is now available exclusively on the Doctors of BC website. The profile provides you with statistics based on the MSP payments made to you for services you provided in the 2019 calendar year, including any settlements or retroactive payments issued as of 31 March 2020. 

When I was in clinical practice in the mid-1950s, I always wore a white lab coat in my office. Looking back on my days as a young doctor, I think that my coat was more to show who was the doctor in the room than to serve me or my patients with a protective device against germs. Today, in the midst of our pandemic, doctors, nurses, and all other staff members looking after COVID-19 patients have changed their white coats or green scrubs to plastic gowns, rubber gloves, masks, and face shields.

Most of the time that I spend on the water is in my red, 25 foot long, 14 inch wide singles rowing boat with two oars. Apart from occasional trips on BC Ferries, the last time I traveled on a passenger-carrying ship of some size was in September 1947. I was 18 years old and on my way from my native Hungary to Canada. I left Budapest on my first-ever airplane ride and stayed in London for a month waiting for my Canadian visa. I was booked on a decommissioned military troop ship sailing from Plymouth for New York; at that time it was 8 days of sailing.

Date of writing: 14 February 2021

The British Columbia COVID-19 vaccination program began in mid-December 2020. As of 5 February 2021, close to 150 000 vaccine doses have been administered in BC.[1] Although the two available vaccines at the time of writing (Pfizer and Moderna) demonstrated efficacy and safety through phase-3 clinical trials and are certified by Health Canada, continuing postapproval surveillance to track severe, rare, or unexpected reactions is necessary.