Fire Destroys Tajik Medical School

Last fall, as part of the 2007 Physicians With Heart Airlift, 22 U.S. family physicians helped deliver medical aid and supplies to Tajikistan. That aid included providing medical textbooks and CME materials to the Tajik State Medical University in Dushanbe, the nation's capital.

Only weeks later, on Dec. 26, the entire medical university burned down. According to reports from Tajikistan, the fire started in the afternoon when professors and students were in class. Flames raged out of control before anyone discovered the fire.

Although no one was hurt, Tajikistan, which is considered the poorest of the former Soviet republics, lost its only medical school. Parts of the library and archives were salvaged, but everything else was destroyed, including books and computers.

Now, America's family physicians can play a critical role in helping Tajikistan rebuild its capacity to train physicians, according to Daniel Ostergaard, M.D., AAFP vice president for professional activities. Ostergaard participated in the 2007 Physicians With Heart Tajikistan airlift, as well as a 2005 airlift to Tajikistan. The country's great need was the reason for a second airlift so soon after the first, Ostergaard says. The Physicians With Heart airlifts are a joint project of the AAFP, the AAFP Foundation and Heart to Heart International.

"This winter, because of unusually severe frigid weather, the Tajik government has been forced to focus primarily on keeping people alive," says Ostergaard. "Plans to rebuild the medical school are, of necessity, a lower priority and are coming together slowly. But once they start rebuilding, we know they'll need humanitarian help to get it done."

Individual physicians who want to help may donate to the AAFP Foundation International Fund.

In addition, the Academy hopes to catalyze a larger effort, Ostergaard says. "We hope that some U.S. medical schools will donate materials and establish a bilateral relationship between their school and the Tajik school. This would help with the rehabilitation of the Tajik school, and it would foster ongoing communication between the medical communities in the two nations."