Surgeon under fire

After war broke out in Chechyna, plastic surgeon Khassan Baiev helped his fellow citizens until he fled to the United States. Ioana Vlad finds out more

Khassan Baiev was born in 1963 in Alkhan Kala, a suburb of the Chechen capital of Grozny. Raised in a religious family, he became a schoolboy champion in sombo (a form of wrestling) and judo. As a teenager, Khassan learned self control: "My athletic training helped me in medicine and especially during the war. It taught me that it is important to be in good health and to control your emotions in conflict situations."

Despite a successful athletic career, Baiev felt that his life should be about more than sports: "I always wanted to do something that would be of service to society. Although pressure was on me to become an athletics coach, I resisted that. I didn't think that my grades would be good enough to go to medical school. But one day in Krasnoyarsk, I asked my taxi driver what the building with a sign of a cup and snake was. He said it was the Krasnoyarsk Medical Institute. That's when I made the decision to try to get in."

Chechens not welcomed

Baiev was at first refused admission because of his nationality but later accepted because of his sports achievements. His university years were a permanent struggle to keep up with his medical studies and the sports competitions. His life as a medical student was never easy. His fellow students occasionally shunned him because he did not enter fully into their social life. Also he had to overcome several Chechen traditions, including one that forbids men from helping in childbirth.

Khassan decided to specialise in cosmetic surgery, a medical field that runs counter to his Muslim belief that man should not change what God has given them. For Khassan, offering a better life to a child with birth defects or to a woman unhappy with her looks was rewarding.

In 1985, Baiev started his specialist training. In 1988, he returned to Chechnya and became a successful reconstructive surgeon. In the early 1990s he went to Moscow for additional training: "In Moscow 75% of my patients were people who wanted facelifts and tummy tucks, while 25% were accident victims. People came from abroad--Sweden, Germany, Switzerland--for plastic surgery because we were offering such operations at a tenth of the cost in their countries. I could have stayed in Moscow, but by 1994 it was clear that war was going to break out, and I decided it was my duty to help my fellow Chechens."

Treating Chechens and Russians

The war forced him now to become a trauma surgeon. His patients were military and civil population, soldiers, and commanders; Chechens and Russians alike.

After the first war (1994-6) ended the memories of wounded and dying patients haunted him. Baiev went to Moscow to seek help for himself and to update his surgical skills. But he did not feel welcome any longer: "I felt a more negative attitude. I was asked to do an operation on a Russian soldier but not to tell people that I came from Chechnya. That offended me deeply. I did the operation because the patient was already anaesthetised, but as soon as it was over, I left and never came back."

When the second Chechen war started in 1999 Baiev placed his family in neighbouring Ingushetia. But he returned to his hometown to be with his patients and treat the wounded. When his Western medical supplies ran out, he resorted to traditional remedies--sour milk, honey, egg yolk, and sterile urine to clean and dress wounds. He faced death several times as Russian forces or Chechen extremists tried to put him out of commission.

Khassan's finally decided to flee Chechnya in 2000 when the Russians ordered his arrest for having saved the life a leading Chechen field commander. One of the employees of the Russian secret services helped him escape to Ingushetia. There he met a Reuter's correspondent who introduced him to several Western humanitarian organisations. They arranged for him to travel to Moscow, where he got a US visa and finally escaped to the United States. Nine months later he managed to bring his wife and children to the United States.

Difficulty adapting

"Adapting to the American lifestyle has been difficult," says Khassan. "When I arrived I did not speak English, and in America you cannot do anything without the language. For a long time I could not get anything but volunteer work in a local hospital. I spent the summer working as a labourer and landscaper on the island of Nantucket. Now that my English is much better, I hope to get some kind of work related to medicine."

But even now Baiev is still unable to practise medicine. "The process in America of getting certified is very difficult, but I am sure I will practise medicine again, although it may be a long time from now before I treat patients. It's a long hard road, but I will persevere."

Baiev and his family now live in Massachusetts. His parents, his sisters, and their families are still in Chechnya. He took up sports again after a 13 year break and is at world championship level: "I will continue competing in athletics as long as I can. I practice sombo and judo every day and consider it very important to be in good shape." In October 2003 Baiev published a book which describes his life during the wars with Russia.¹

Khassan Baiev has become an outspoken advocate for human rights: "I constantly think about the medical needs of Chechnya. The situation there is catastrophic: tuberculosis and mental illness are rampant, as are heart attacks and cerebral haemorrhages." He now heads the International Committee for the Children of Chechnya, an American non-governmental organisation that hopes to bring some help to suffering children: "I long to go back to help my people. When it is safe for me to return there, I surely will."

1. Baiev K. The oath: a surgeon under fire. London: Simon and Schuster, 2003.