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Þ Þ Þ Þ Þ No6 No6 No6 No6 Ü Ü Ü Ü Ü
April 2011
A SPECIAL AMIC NEWSLETTER
Dr. Hamlet Tamazian In Memoriam 1947-2011
The following text was prepared by Dr. Michel Dervichian and Dr. Serge Simonian from UMAF/Paris, in memory of Dr. Hamlet Tamazian and sent to Info-Flash last week.
AMIC’s Executive President, Dr. Avedis Bogosyan as well as its members would like to present their condolences to Dr. Tamazian’s family, a well known colleague and a friend of several members of the Executive.
Hamlet Tamazian was born on May 1, 1947, in ODZOUN, in the region of TUMANYAN, to a modest family. His father Serguey was a driver and his mother Dzaghig took care of the family. Hamlet has a sister Silva who currently manages the diagnostic center of the Mikaelian Institute and a brother Hovig, currently retired, but who used to also work at the Institute. The Tamazian’s have been in ODZOUN since 1700 and their genealogy is well established through seven generations. The family is originally from Karabagh.
Hamlet did his primary and secondary education at the Griboedov School in Yerevan.
He entered Yerevan’s Faculty of Medicine in 1966. During his studies, he married Angela ARAKELIAN in 1968. She is from Gumri and was studying gynaecology. They had two children Loucine in 1969 and Arthur in 1971. Hamlet finished his medical studies and received his degree in 1972.
During his studies he practiced his
favourite sport, boxing, in the flyweight category, with numerous successful
bouts. He pursued his specialty, surgery, with
his "masters"(or bosses) Viguen MALKHASSIAN, Alfred AVAKIAN, Yvan GEVORKYAN
and Haroutioun MINASSIAN.
According to Soviet legislation in force at the time, it was required to
work 3 years outside of Yerevan. He was assigned as a surgeon at the hospital
in ALLAVERDI in 1972. Given his skills he is appointed chief of surgery a year
later at the hospital in AKHTALA where he remained until 1977. From 1977 to
1978 he was head of the surgery department of the hospital in the TUMANYAN
region with responsibility for the entire region.
In the context of Soviet – Algerian cooperation, he was sent in 1978 with his wife Angela to Algeria, Souk Arras, near the Algerian-Tunisian border. He worked as a surgeon and teacher. Angela worked as a gynecologist at the maternity. During this period of almost three years they learned French and some Arabic which proved useful later on.
Back
from Algeria, he returned
to the hospital in the TUMANYAN region
and resumed his
duties as department head until
1983. At that time Prof. Alexander Mikaelian
appoints him chief of general surgery at
his Institute and lecturer at the
Faculty of Medicine.
In 1986 he
was appointed Associate
Professor in his specialty at
Moscow’s PETROVSKI Institute; the Mikaelian Institute of Yerevan was
an affiliate of Moscow’s PETROVSKI
Institute. He was then in contact with
Russian, Georgian and Azeri colleagues for publications and
scientific work.
After the earthquake of December 7, 1988, he took to France a group of injured children who required surgical care and rehabilitation. The children were housed at the Hospital of St. Maurice in Val de Marne. During his stay he met Armenian physicians in the Paris region members of the UMAF and among them especially Dr. Serge Simonian. Friendship and fraternal relations were established and endure. An important Armenian-French cooperation blossomed from these relationships. He was given the Medal of Honor by the Armenian government for his action and humanitarian work during and after the earthquake.
In
1991, the Institute director Professor Alexander Mikaelian dies. The
"collective" appointed him Director of the Institute. He retained
that position until his death.
In 1994, he becomes head of the Chair of Surgery at the Medical University of
Armenia. He created a special school for the training of surgeons. He wrote or
contributes to 231 publications in Armenian or Soviet literature. They deal
primarily with diseases of the pancreas and stomach. He presented 45 students
in the doctoral thesis in medicine. He trained 108 surgeons in his department.
Cooperation between the Mikaelian Institute and UMAF dates from 1990 promoted by the "Francophonie," and Hamlet’s "Francophilia."
Bilateral relations allowed multiple remarkable progress in several areas: gastrointestinal surgery, laparoscopic - surgery, radiology (CT), hand surgery, digestive endoscopy, and technical equipment installment such as oxygen, compressed air, suction, modern surgery equipment, cables and so on.
Several surgeons come to France for training. Training mainly in liver surgery and learning of liver transplantation. Hamlet spent several months in Beaujon hospital to master the technique of liver transplantation. He met all of UMAF’s presidents since 1990. Hamlet introduces to his hospital all the surgical techniques which appeared to him superior to the Soviet know-how.
During
the Karabakh war many wounded are treated at his hospital. Hamlet received
several awards for his involvement and medical humanitarianism.
In 1997, he was named Doctor Honoris Causa of the Tbilisi Faculty of Medicine. He maintained relations with various foreign Faculties: New York, Berlin, Moscow, Paris, Los Angeles, Tiflis, St. Petersburg, Marseille, etc... Armenia's independence allowed him to establish links with the Diaspora. In 2009 he loses his colleague Simon, like him a digestive surgeon.
One should add that in 1993 he was named "Honorary citizen of the City of
Allaverdi" and in 1994 he became the medical officer of the Armenian
Boxing Federation and later on its president.
In 2001, the Mikaelian Institute
is privatized and Hamlet became the main
shareholder. His son Arthur became Director
of the Institute
and himself the Chair of the group.
He repeatedly refused
the post of Minister
of Health of Armenia.
In 2003 he is
elected to parliament for the Armenian
region of Tavush
and Lori. He
did not present his candidacy for a second term
because of his
illness that begins
in March 2006.
In 2008, following
his illness his son
Arthur took on the
entire management of the Mikaelian
Institute.
Hamlet was very
attached to his family. His happiness and pride
were his 5
'Tornik "(4
boys and one
girl). His daughter
Loucine, ophthalmologist, married
to a lawyer
Souren has 3 children:
David, Edgar, and Rima. His son Arthur, whose wife Rufina
is a surgeon has two
children. The elder
Hamlet, is a
student in Los Angeles, the second is
Alain still a schoolboy. Both speak English and French
perfectly. Alain and Hamlet are poets
of talent as
you can see from
the enclosed poem
by Hamlet Junior.