In January, exactly 49 years ago, the life of an outstanding scientist and surgeon, former rector of the Kyrgyz State Medical Academy, academician Isa Konoevich Akhunbaev, was cut short in a car accident. The Medical Academy today bears his name. The fifth of January is a tragic date for the academy, science and the country as a whole. The people lost not only a great scientist, but also a true citizen and patriot. “I am the son of the people through my labor. I bow before this people. People, I am your slave. Not only through my labor, but also through my blood, I belong to you. I am Isa.” This confession by Akhunbaev speaks for itself.

Isa Konoevich played a huge role in the development of medical science, practical healthcare, as well as in the training of highly qualified doctors in the republic.

It was academician Isa Akhunbaev who, for the first time in Central Asia in 1959, performed heart surgery, which became a breakthrough in surgery in Kyrgyzstan, because then there was no talk of cardiac surgery.

When the first patient with a diseased heart was found - with an acquired heart defect - the operation lasted an hour and fifty minutes. And this historical operation will be remembered for a lifetime.

By the way, the Patient’s heart worked until his old age and stopped due to another illness.