I was five when I decided to become a doctor

One of our regular listeners from Sydney, Jack, contacted me and asked if I want to interview Dr Vartkes Najarian, an orthopedic surgeon and benefactor who, with his wife Mary, had established the Medical Outreach program in 1980's and sent to Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno Karabagh) millions of dollars' worth of medical aid and supplies. I knew about Dr Najarian and the wonderful work of Medical Outreach for Armenians and couldn't miss the opportunity to talk to him about his experiences from the most difficult times of modern Armenian history: the 1988 Earthquake and the Artsakh (Karabagh) war.

Dr Vartkes Najarian Source: Dr Vartkes Najarian

I started the conversation with Dr Vartkes from our common link, both our fathers were born in the city of Urfa.

Dr Vartkes recounted the ordeal of his father who, in 1895 and only five years old, witnesses Turks kill his father (Vartkes's grandfather) with an axe during the massacres in Urfa. Orphaned, he was raised in an orphanage managed by American missionaries. There he learns many trades and later, in 1915, he survives the massacres because of the different trades he had learned in the orphanage.

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We performed surgeries in tents under constant shelling

SBS Armenian

28/08/201837:13

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Vartkes was born in the Armenian town of Kessab in Syria in 1930. He recalls vividly an incident that influenced his career choice. "I was five, when we heard that a man had an accident and fallen from a tree. Late afternoon, we saw four men carrying the poor man on a stretcher to the doctor. I asked my mother why the man was lying wounded on the field all day and the doctor hadn’t come to the patient. And my mother said, when you become a doctor, you go to the patient. And I decided at five to become a doctor."

When, in 1939, the French government ceded the Alexandretta province of Syria to Turkey, the Najarian family, fearing for their safety, decided to move to Lebanon. In Beirut, Vartkes studied medicine and graduated from the American University of Beirut.  During his studies, he meets his future wife, Mary, a cardiac surgery nurse.

Dr Vartkes and Mary Najarian Source: Raffi Najarian

In 1984, Dr Vartkes travels to Soviet Armenia with his wife Mary and they visit an orthopedic hospital in Yerevan. After returning to the US, they send to Soviet Armenia medical equipment worth US $60.000, not an easy endeavour during soviet times. He returns to Armenia regularly performing orthopedic surgeries and, in 1986, establishes Medical Outreach for Armenians.

Dr & Mrs Najarian receiving Ellis Island award in Washington Source: Raffi Najarian

Shortly after the 1988 earthquake, Dr Vartkes travels to Armenia with a rescue team sent by the US government. He returns to the US with a group of wounded children. Over time, Dr Vartkes and Mary treat more than 120 wounded Armenian children. "I always had three or four children in my house, recalls Dr Vartkes, some didn't have arms and others didn't have legs, the ones who didn't have legs helped the ones who didn't have arms and the ones that didn't have arms helped the ones who didn't have legs."

Wounded children from the Armenian earthquake of 1988 in Los Angeles for treatment. Source: Raffi Najarian

In 1989, he starts the yearly telethons, initially, to raise funds for the survivors of the pogroms of Armenians in Azerbaijan.

In 1992, during the height of the war in Karabagh, Dr Vartkes and Mary, establish two operating theaters and 15 intensive care units and Medical Outreach sends 53 containers of medical supplies for operating theaters.

Container to be filled for the hospital. Source: Raffi Najarian

According to reports from Artsakh, more than 9000 wounded were treated in the new operating theaters they had established.

Operating at the Military Hospital in Yerevan Source: Raffi Najarian

After the ceasefire of 1994, Dr Vartkes and Mary Najarian, renovate the military hospital in Yerevan.

Beds before the renovation of the hospital Source: Raffi Najarian

New beds in hospital after renovation Source: Raffi Najarian

Operating at the Military Hospital in Yerevan Source: Raffi Najarian

Dr Vartkes speaking to the patients about the danger of smoking Source: Raffi Najarian

Dr Najarian is convinced that the people of Artsakh won the war because of their selfless courage and heroism.

Glorious soldiers Source: Raffi Najarian

In 1997, Dr Vartkes becomes an honorary colonel in the Armenian army.

Dr Najarian receiving honorary colonel status in the Armenian Army. Source: Raffi Najarian

As a frontline surgeon during the war in Artsakh (Karabagh), what are his thoughts about the future? "Without a strong army, we can't have a homeland." His thoughts about keeping our Armenian identity in the diaspora? "If we don't live in our homeland, we are doomed to lose our Armenian identity within four generations."

Dr and Mrs Najarian with nine grandchildren. Source: Raffi Najarian