"BE LIKE ME..."

Surkhai was the youngest in the big family of Aliheydar Akhundov. He was born in Baku, where his father moved from Shamakhi in 1898 with his big family. This young boy was destined to become an outstanding physician, the founder of neurosurgery in Azerbaijan. But little is known about him at home, to which he devoted himself selflessly until the end of his life.

Responsible children

Aliheydar Akhundov was raising eight children, five boys and three girls, realizing that the most important thing for their happy and prosperous future is education, not the capital. He knew that knowledge and profession are the guarantors of their secure future. Aliheydar-bey knew that times and authorities might change but the land, which always remains native. Everyone who loves it must serve it and its people.

His children did not disappoint him. Everyone was educated. All became individuals who played important, though perhaps not very noticeable, roles in the life of their country. Aliheydar sent his elder son Sultan Mahmud to Kiev, where he graduated from the Chemistry Department of the Alexander II Kiev Polytechnic Institute. Since 1911, he has worked with the oil tycoon Musa Naghiyev as his oil field manager and after the revolution, as an engineer of Azneft under the direction of A. P. Serebrovsky. Since 1922, Sultan Mahmud has managed the Construction Department of the Ministry of Health. During this period of his life, he has been responsible for the construction of sanatoriums and hospitals in Azerbaijan. Although he is not the principal character of our story, we mention him because he played a very important role in shaping the ethical and aesthetic views of his younger brother Surkhai. What about the other seven children of Aliheydar-bey?

Hussein devoted himself to the revolution, all his official activities were associated with NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), where he held important posts for many years. Including in the central administrative apparatus. He completed his tenure as a mine manager responsible for gold and precious metals. Rustam suddenly fell ill and passed away very young. This was a real tragedy for his family, as he was just over twenty! Agalar-bey, Sumat-khanim, Safura-khanim and Tamara-khanim became doctors. Perhaps the premature loss of his beloved brother influenced Surkhai’s decision. But he was the first who became a doctor in the family of Akhundovs and was the founder of the tradition of devoting life to the treatment of people.

To Moscow!

In 1917, Surkhai-bey graduated from the school located along Nikolayevskaya Street (now the Economy University, Istiglaliyat Street), and on September 1, 1919, he became a student at the Medical Faculty of the Baku University established by the Parliament of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in the same year. His first academic year at the university began with two faculties – History-Philology and Medical. There were 1,094 students. His first rector was the professor of the Kazan University, Vasily Ivanovich Razumovsky. On September 29, 1919, ADR parliament approved the Charter of Baku State University, and on November 15 of the same year the first classes began. Speaking of the importance of this event, Razumovsky noted: "Azerbaijan has created its own center of enlightenment. A new bright page is inscribed in the history of the Turkic people. At the junction of Europe and Asia, a new torch was lit. I believe in the brilliant future of the Baku State University. "

At that time, Surkhai-bey would hardly think of choosing neurology as his main discipline. Fascinated by neurology, he became one of the favorite students of Professor Sergei Nikolaevich Davidenkov, and then professors G. I. Rossolimo and L. S. Minoru. The talented student has soon engaged in scientific research and research. In 1925, professor Davidenkov was transferred to Moscow, where he headed the neurology department of the V. A. Obukh Institute of Occupational Diseases. The professor invites his favorite student as a resident-student. Surkhai gladly agrees. Now he has the opportunity to confirm his theoretical knowledge in practice! His first research was carried out in co-authorship with Professor Davidenkov and devoted to hereditary and occupational diseases of the nervous system. In 1930, Surkhai Akhundov enrolled in the graduate school of the Scientific Research Institute of Neurosurgery, where his teachers were Nikolai Nilovich Burdenko and Grigory Ivanovich Kramer, who founded this institute. Many years later, the scientist proudly wrote in his album: "My teachers!". He will not forget them and will be proud of them all his life.

A special gift

Surkhai Akhundov was not only a talented scientist who wrote many works on neurosurgery and was a practicing neurosurgeon and an excellent diagnostician. He was gifted determining the affected spots in the human body unmistakably.

Farida Ismayil-zadeh, a neuropathologist, senior researcher of the Medical Rehabilitation Institute of Azerbaijan Scientific Research Institute, Candidate of Medical Sciences, grandchild of Surkhai Akhundov: "Maybe what I'm saying right now sounds pathetic, but it turns out that my grand-father was a living computer tomography unit of that time unmistakably determining the vulnerable places in the human body. It was a unique talent, he was blessed. His teacher, Academician Nikolai Burdenko, used to say that without precise topographic diagnosis of Surkhai Akhundov about the place and character of the affection even the experienced surgeons, including himself, used to have a sort of indecision and anxiety before operations".

The talent of the young scientist from Azerbaijan made him popular in Moscow. Patients who heard about the Azerbaijani doctor had tried to make appointments upon his return to Baku in the early 60's, when he continued his cooperation with the Moscow Institute of Neurosurgery as a permanent scientific consultant.

Rashid Musaev, a neurosurgeon, the former head of the neurosurgery department:"Professor Surkhai Akhundov was not just a talented practicing physician and scientist. He was a man who traveled throughout the country and worked in many clinics and institutes of the Soviet Union, but he was dreaming about the development of neurosurgery in Azerbaijan. I was the head of the clinical department of neurosurgery, which was established only thanks to the efforts of Surkhai Akhundov".

During 1947-1952, Surkhai Akhundov is an associate professor of the Department of Nervous Diseases of the Azerbaijan Medical Institute. In 1952, he defended his doctoral thesis and became a professor. During these years, he travels a lot around the country: he participates in scientific congresses and conferences, lectures, works as head of the department of neurology of medical institutes in Perm, Dushanbe and Tashkent. He actively works with his colleagues from Leningrad, Chisinau, Moscow. He writes scientific works on brain and spinal tumors, which are still the reference books for neurosurgeons and modern students. His students have raised talented doctors, including professors, who are still working in the post-Soviet space.

Dream

Rashid Valibayov, neurosurgeon, Candidate of Medical Sciences: "Professor Akhundov was in demand throughout the whole Union. He was actively engaged in various scientific and practical activities and successfully managed the neurosurgery department. All his thoughts were about the development of neurosurgery in Azerbaijan and the clinical separation of neurosurgery. In 1966, while in Moscow at a regular scientific conference, he meets a young, promising neurosurgeon doctor Agaverdi Shatibayovich Velibekov and makes him an offer to open the first neurosurgery department in Baku. This proposal was accepted, and in 1967, the first neurosurgical department in the history of Azerbaijani medicine was opened in the Mirgasimov Republican Hospital. Surkhai Akhundov actively participated in the establishment and activities of the department, remaining a permanent scientific adviser throughout his life. In the first year of the department's work, 68 complicated operations were carried out! A bright memory and gratitude to the wonderful man and teacher of a whole generation of Azerbaijani neurosurgeons, Surkhai Akhundov!"

Farida Ismayil-zadeh: "In 1966, using his position, glorious name and connections, he managed to open the first special neurosurgical department for 40 beds in the Republican Clinical Hospital."

This is true. Surkhai Akhundov was the founder of neurosurgery in Azerbaijan. So why is his name not among the founders? In fact, he tried hard to equip the clinic with specialized equipment as a consultant! He provided the clinic with specialists from Moscow and presented the department with a unique gift at that time: a whole box of surgical instruments! In Soviet times, given the total deficit of everything, it was an act of a true patriot!

Farida Ismayil-zadeh: "He was a unique person. All adults in our family would say this. Even now, many of the Akhundov family tell stories that characterize him as an extraordinary person. For example, trams were once popular in Baku at that time. Uncle Surkhai, like all Soviet people, also traveled by tram. Although he could afford his own car. But he believed that it would be immodest of him. Then one day, after going along the usual route, he noticed how insanely the tram-car looked! Dirt, stained seats, where there could be bugs, fleas, and so on. He rose in protest and paid a visit to the tram park. He demanded to eliminate all these unsanitary problems. His demand was reacted immediately by replacing the car completely. So, he was the same in everything: very correct, principled and honest. Once he took an exam from one of his relatives, who studied at a medical institute. After listening to his answers, the professor asked him to send greetings to his mother and... gave him C, saying that he did not deserve more. He also asked his student to remember: medicine is sent to mankind as a godly gift, and the doctor is a tool of God. Doctor can only be a good professional or not at all if he cannot match this criterion. My uncle was a very intelligent man. He could not stand rudeness. He spoke respectfully to everyone. Even with young children, his nephews, let alone his students and colleagues. One day his student and subordinate, who had just defended the doctor's thesis and strove to take his place as the head of the department, knowing this feature of him, insulted the professor all along the way. This, of course, was the provocation of a careerist. But my uncle did not bother analyzing the situation. As the head of the department at that time, he silently left the room and went to his office. He collected his belongings and announced that he would not stay a minute longer there. He left from there forever, without entering into polemics. Scandals and rudeness were not in his style. He could do only professional polemic with his colleagues. He could not stand frictions between people, arguing that the department, where people are called to give, and not shorten life, this kind of problems were unacceptable. Medicine ends where the conflict begins. This harms the common cause, the doctor himself and his patient. And this is also Uncle Surkhai."

Adalet Hajiyev, director of the Russian Drama Theater: "As a child, we often look at the world through the eyes of our parents. My relationship with Uncle Surkhai, who called me and my brother his grandchildren, was formed by my mother. She always spoke about him in a very respectful tone, repeating that we might not run around Uncle Surkhai, around his apartment, touch the things on the shelves. Because he was a professor and he did not have to interfere much. I did not understand then what a "professor" was and finally began to treat him as a deity. And my brother and I went there like a museum. We treated him as an unquestioned authority. But it did not last long, and a few minutes after the arrival, we felt like at home. And my uncle-grandfather was not at all a terrible professor, but a kind and intelligent friend. He spoke with us on an equal footing and understood our boyish problems, which other adults did not understand. He knew how to be on friendly terms with us, children."

Sultan Mahmud and Surkhai

Perhaps now is the time to remember the eldest son of the Akhundov family, Sultan Mahmud. There was a big age difference between Mahmud and Surkhai. When Mahmud had already become a mature man, Surkhai was still a little boy. To prevent his little brother spending time in idleness and amusements, Mahmud figured out how to interest him. He proposed a deal: you read a book, I buy you a candy; you go to the theater, I buy you a cake. It worked. Thus, Sultan Mahmud instilled in his younger brother a genuine interest and love for the visual and theatrical art, for literature, geography, classical music and self-improvement. Surkhai, being already a mature man, having a reputation in the city as a skilled doctor and a great master with an exotic collection, told this, laughing and admiring the correct pedagogical approach of his elder brother. And in his home office next to books on medicine organically co-existed books on art, fiction, vinyl records with records of classical opera, orchestral music and popular music of that time.

The passions

He had a spirit of a traveler, discoverer and researcher. He traveled all over the world, studying the culture of different peoples, finding on other continents those grains of humanistic ideas that confirmed his idea that humanity should have the same moral roots and humanistic ideals.

The love of travel and art, especially the opera, made his life complete and harmonious. From his endless travels, he brought out strange sculptural figures, vinyl records of great works, rare books. Showing this to his nephews, he told them about people and countries he visited. About his collection of porcelain figurines, Indian vases, Vietnamese carvings on ivory, Dresden and Czech porcelain, albums with reproductions, postcards, badges and dolls in the city of legends. The doctor-collector aroused genuine interest among the citizens of Baku. Journalists came and interviewed him, telling their readers about the amazing hobby of the famous surgeon. They were surprised by the fact that there were always books on medicine. But the very owner of the collection, this neighborhood did not bother. On the contrary, he believed that it was very natural. Jokingly said that his unique collection intends for a time when he retires and will enjoy the beauty gathered from the grains from around the world. So, mentally again will be in those memorable places, which made an indelible emotional impression on him. And as the will wrote on the page of the album to his descendants: "As in medicine, and in art I find the same satisfaction. Be like me, and always try to combine your specialty with art at the same time." It is dated January 10, 1968.

Dr. Surkhai gave a little cunning. He cried because he did not become a pensioner sitting on a bench for backgammon, having lived to be 76 years old. After leaving his native chair in 1970, he remained the leading neurosurgeon consultant for the rest of his life at the country's main clinics - the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics, the Institute of Reconstructive Surgery.

The covenants of Surkhai Akhundov

Once the father and elder brother made Surkhai believe that a man's power is in his knowledge. He bequeathed the same message to his students and nephews. Therefore, even at the exams, he asked questions that were not related to medicine. For example, about the classical music. One of his students, unable to answer any question about art, said in surprise that she, as a future neurosurgeon, did not need this. Let Tchaikovsky, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin deal with art. Professor Surkhai Akhundov replied that this was her greatest misconception. This knowledge was necessary, as she was going to become a healer of such an important and unexplored organ in the human body as brain. Great art is born somewhere in the depths of the human brain, and it is important not only to know, but also to understand and feel it with all your heart. He tried to instill a love for art in his nephews, because he did not have his own children. He knew all his nephews by name and remembered all the characteristics of their characters. He tirelessly told them that a person should study all his life, study the world, love and study art, serve his work and people. "Be like me!" He wrote in the photo album. Not because he considered himself an unsurpassed ideal, but because he wanted to share his experience. During his entire life, he kept the photo album as a visual aid, which confirmed that his maxima was right: nothing is impossible for an intelligent person. "I visited 20 countries on three continents. Be like me," he wrote in his album next to the photo, where he bent over a notebook in the airliner's cabin...

Epilogue

Professor Surkhai Akhundov is a scientist made Azerbaijani medicine glorious for the entire Soviet Union. His scientific works are in demand even today, not only in Azerbaijan. Now, when he is not with us, his works live and develop, we simply have to restore justice by returning his name to the history of our medicine. Not in the name of the departed, but in the name of the living. For the Oriental wisdom says that whoever forgets his roots or renounces them, becomes a mankurt - a person who does not remember anything from his previous life, a man without a clan and tribe, without past, and hence without future and present.