Author page: Levan Stajadze

“Healthcare Optimization is the Great Evil”

Levan Longinozovich Stazhadze is a well-known Soviet and Russian anesthetist, doctor of medical sciences, professor, academician of the International Academy of Astronautics. He headed the country’s first department of resuscitation at the Institute of Emergency Care named after N.V. Sklifosovsky, and in 1972-1987 – the department of medical support of manned space flights at the Institute of Biomedical Problems. Together with professor L.G. Kostomarova L.L. Stazhadze is the organizer of the Moscow Disaster Medicine Service and to this day works as the chief researcher in the Center for Emergency Medical Aid, created by them at the Moscow Health Department. Levan Longinozovich is one of those interlocutors who can be listened to for hours, and there will never be enough time to learn about all the amazing details of his biography – sad, funny, edifying, historically significant – often it is referred to very important facts of national history. The names of people, whom he knew well, are known to everybody or to plenty of people. Institutes were named in honor of some of them, while others, on the contrary, became ominous symbols of a bygone era. But, no matter what we think about it, it is all part of our history, which, as we know, does not know the subjunctive mood