Composition: 99.99% gold
Mintage: 5,000

75th Anniversary of Dr. Norman Bethune's invention of the world's first mobile blood transfusion vehicle.
A Canadian Hero Transforms Military Field Medecine

Born in 1890 in Gravehurst, Ontario, Dr Henry Norman Bethune was a celebrated surgeon and medical innovator.

[...]

Dr. Bethune travaled to the fron of the Spanish Civil war in November 1936 to assist Spain in its fight against fascism. While tending to wounded soldiers there, he noted that about three-quarters were dying of blood loss from injuries that should not be fatal. The solution, he deduced, was to bring medical care tothe wounded, rather than waste precious hours transporting the wounded to far-away medical facilities.

He began collecting and carefully refrigerating blood from volunteer donors in Madrid and other cities, then delivering it to the front lines with a prototypical ambulance. With this vehicle, he could supply front-line casualties with critical dressings and carry with him the surgical tools - and banked blood - necessary to perform on-site transfusions. He and his small medical team saved thousands of lives, performing up to 100 blood transfusions every day.

[...]

It was the first service of its kindand is braodly recognized has having transformed military medecine. Indeed, his innovation is credited as the inspiration for the development of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (M.A.S.H.) Units during the KoreanWar.

75TH ANNIVERSARY OF DR. NORMAN BETHUNE'S INVENTION - 2011 CANADIAN COINS is categorised COINS AND PAPER MONEY / 08- ROYAL CANADIAN MINT / 25- GOLD, PLATINE & PALLADIUM COINS and sold by l'Imaginaire, a store and specialised website.