"Dr. Fedorov's disciples are working in all parts of the world. They have arranged it between themselves to operate free of charge every year on his birthday in memory of their teacher, who died an untimely and tragic death," Professor Minas Atamian, MD, said to Novosti. He was Academician Fedorov's assistant for nine years, and now heads one of the Arab world's best eye clinics, based in Aleppo, Syria.
"I make it a point to receive as many patients as I can on this red-letter day. I want our charitable endeavour to be a landmark-the more sensational it is the better will the public see the merits of the man it commemorates."
On Svyatoslav Fedorov Foundation initiative, his pupils of Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, France, Germany, the USA, Russia, China, Syria and many other countries made a written appeal today to Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General, to appoint a World Eye Protection Day on August 8.
"The late lamented Svyatoslav Fedorov was a man of duty and discipline. That was why all his ideas and projects found brilliant implementation. Several hundred clinics and hospitals in every part of the world are using his trailblazing knowhow, and US- and Japanese-based electronic companies manufacture equipment of his and his pupils' design," says Professor Atamian.
"Whenever I am asked whether Svyatoslav Fedorov was good at commerce and corporate management, I always say that he was, above all, a physician and researcher of tremendous endowments, and a philanthropist through and through. Always eager to help every patient, he knew how to do it. That was a sacred cause of that wonderful person."
Dr. Fedorov died in a helicopter crash near Moscow four years ago.
