Prof. Marian Zembala. He was an outstanding cardiac surgeon

Prof. Marian Zembala. He went down in the history of medicine as one of the most outstanding Polish cardiac surgeons. He was the first in Poland to transplant a heart-lung patient. Over the years, he collaborated with prof. Zbigniew Religa. His strength was empathy: “If you do not have empathy, God forbid you should not choose the profession of a doctor or a nurse. This is the basic attribute of this profession » — spoke in one of the interviews for RMF FM.

1. In 1985, Zbigniew Relig himself invited Zembala to work at the Silesian Center for Heart Diseases in Zabrze, and later he joined the team that was the first in Poland to successfully transplant a heart
2. Later on this achievement he said: “We were madmen, not gods”
3. Zembala continued the work of Religa in Zabrze, carrying out the most difficult operations. He performed a heart transplant in an eight-month-old boy, he also implanted a 103-year-old patient with a bypass, he was the first to have a heart-lung transplant
4. Prof. Marian Zembala died on March 19, 2022.
5. More information can be found on the TvoiLokony home page

Marian Zembala is dead

«The older I get, the worse I can bear the death of a sick person. This is weird to me… I am obsessed with fighting for no one to die. This is something that bothers me. Every day after XNUMX p.m. I have a call from the hospital, such a report, because I need to know what is happening with my patients » — said prof. Zembala in 2017 in an interview on the river «Meetings. A Tale of Faith in Man »Dawid Kubiatowski.

On Saturday, March 19, the Polish media circulated the information about the death of prof. Marian Zembala — an outstanding cardiac surgeon, former minister of health. The current health minister, Adam Niedzielski, wrote on Twitter: «I have received tragic news about the death of prof. Marian Zembala. Professor, you will always remain in our memory » — he wrote.

1. More information HERE: Prof. Marian Zembala

Who was prof. Marian Zembala?

Marian Zembala began his career as a cardiac surgeon in Wrocław, where he graduated earlier. Later he educated young doctors himself: “I tell my medical students that if you do not have empathy, God forbid, do not choose the profession of a doctor or a nurse. This is the basic attribute of this profession. Empathy for another person » — he translated in an interview at the RMF FM studio.

At the beginning of the 80s, he worked in the Netherlands at a cardiac surgery clinic in Utrecht, where he became part of the largest post-war program of foreign operations on Polish children with heart defects.

In 1985, Zbigniew Religa himself enlisted him to work at the Silesian Center for Heart Diseases in Zabrze, and later he joined the team that was the first in Poland to successfully transplant a heart. This success was immortalized by the creators of the film “Gods” from 2014, where Zembala was played by Piotr Głowacki. He himself spoke in an interview on the river “Meetings. A story about faith in man »:« We were madmen, not gods ».

1. What is empathy and can it be learned? [WE EXPLAIN]

When Religa decided to leave for Warsaw, Zembala took over the management of the center in Zabrze, continuing the tradition of carrying out the most complex operations. In 2002, he performed the first heart-lung transplant, his team transplanted a heart to an eight-month-old boy, and implanted a 103-year-old patient with a bypass. Later, in an interview with Newsweek, he modestly explained: “We decided to operate on her because her biological age was less than 90 years”.

The rest of the article is available under the video:

Zembala also contributed to the creation of the Częstochowa Cardiology Center. A few years after the institution was opened, he said to Gazeta Wyborcza: “It turned out that the death rate was the highest in Katowice and Częstochowa and its region. Then, in principle, a decision was made that a modern center for treating heart attacks should be created in these two cities. (…) During these few years the mortality rate due to heart attacks in Częstochowa fell from 14 to 3 percent! » — he admitted with satisfaction.

Prof. Marian Zembala – medical and political career

In 2011, prof. Zembala became the chairman of the scientific council at the minister of health, as well as the national consultant in the field of cardiosurgery. He began his political activity in 2014, when he obtained the mandate of a councilor of the Silesian sejmik of the XNUMXth term. A year later he became the minister of health. In the parliamentary elections in 2015, he ran from the PO list and won a parliamentary seat.

In 2005, he was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Krzepice for the first time in history — it was there that he was born in 1950. It is also where he finished elementary and high school, and it was the teachers there who made him interested in medicine. «(…) I found an article in which prof. Wiktor Bross, co-founder of Polish cardiac surgery and a pioneer of kidney transplantation, said that soon for patients with irreversible damage to the liver, lungs, heart or kidneys, transplantation of these organs will be a rescue. I wanted to be a cardiac surgeon like prof. Bross. And devote myself completely to cardiac surgery and transplantation » — he explained in an interview for gazety.pl in 2020. He also said that if he had not been a doctor, he would have become a composer, playing the accordion, piano and organ. His mother, in turn, wanted him to become a priest.

In 2012, he received the Benemerenti (Well-deserved) medal, a papal decoration awarded in recognition of serving God and people. He was also among the knights of the Order of the Smile, awarded by the international chapter. A request for the award was made by children after heart transplants: “It happened that they wrote in verse, for example,” You gave me my heart and I will not be in a dilemma anymore. ” — then the Vice-Chancellor of the International Chapter of the Order of the Smile, Marek Michalak, spoke.

He suffered a stroke in June 2018 and has been in a wheelchair since then. «I wanted to live. I am glad that I lived to the age of 70. By exercising every day, I can move, maybe not quite independently, but I am no longer an obstacle at work or at home »- he said in 2020 in RMF FM.

The professor’s body was found on March 19. The case of death is being investigated by the prosecutor’s office, an autopsy is planned.

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