There are many monuments dedicated to the “white army” fighters – doctors — in different parts of the world. There is an impressive inscription on one of the monuments. “We bow: from all the survivors.”

During this large-scale and catastrophic war provoked by the Azerbaijani-Turkish troops, countless soldiers, volunteers and civilians survived due to the tireless work of doctors, nurses and nurses, there is no number …

From the very first day of the war, doctors working in civilian medical institutions from both Armenia and abroad joined the military doctors …

They went by the dictates of the heart, ignoring every difficulty, every danger, death before their eyes …

Sergey Guloyan, a traumatologist-orthopedist at St. Gregory the Illuminator Medical Center, volunteered to go to Stepanakert Hospital with his two orthopedic friends, Vanik Asoyan and David Hayrapetyan.

Years ago, Sergei spent his military service there as a doctor.

… It was late at night when they arrived in Stepanakert, the city was immersed in darkness and silence. Destroyed buildings, ruins ….

It was war and … a large flow of wounded, constantly, continuously …

For the doctors from the city, the first few hours were unusual – to work under the sounds of explosions, air alarms. At first they were a little tense, but then it became normal, they got used to it, they performed their surgeries calmly, sometimes trying to decide from the intensity of the explosions in which part, at what distance the next projectile fell …

The White Army did a great job during the war.

“All the circles worked together,” says Sergey. “I admire the work of the nurses, who did their job silently, without giving any first aid, and there were many student volunteers among them.” And I have no words to say about the medical staff of the military unit. They acted heroically, under a hot torrent of direct fire, saving lives at the cost of their lives …

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The war was unprecedented in its scope, the enemy’s army was raging even more day by day. The enemy had used all of its arsenal and not only its own. Peaceful settlements were also targeted.

As the bombing of Stepanakert intensified, surgeries were already being carried out in bunkers, in storage rooms. The number of wounded was growing, and the medical staff spent sleepless days in front of the operating tables. It happened that 30-40 wounded people were brought at once …

– There were many explosive and shrapnel wounds, mainly the upper and lower extremities were damaged.

Distorted, mutilated bodies … Sometimes the images were so horrible, terrifying, not fit into the human mind … The handwriting of the war …

It was an unspeakable pain to see the amputated young boys aged 18-20, whose lives were still ahead…

It was hard to see it both psychologically and physically, but doctors must not lose their composure, their ability to act soberly, they must control their emotional state as soon as possible, try to focus only on the work, because they know and understand clearly that every minute is important, every minute is life …

“A large number of wounded policemen were brought, they were wounded during heavy fighting in Shushi by drone strikes. Many of them did not even say that they were at the forefront in order not to disturb the family, not to disturb them …,” Dr. Guloyan recounts various cases and episodes from the war days and added.  “They said, nothing happened to us, we feel good, help soon, the guys are waiting for us … Do you know what was my biggest discovery in those days? I saw eyes bewildered by pain, bodies crumpled by inhuman pain, but believe me, I did not see a psychologically depressed soldier…”

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“When I returned to Yerevan from Stepanakert, at first that quiet life was so unusual, I could not get used to, I felt like I was in a completely different reality, I wanted to go back again,” the doctor confesses. “And when some people try to manipulate or accuse soldiers, questioning his courage, my anger knows no bounds. I saw the spirituality and devotion of our soldiers, which filled my soul with immense pride. I saw soldier who overcame fear, looked fearlessly into the eyes of death, the strength of thei spirit …”

… In the capital, when Dr. Guloyan visited different hospitals; he is constantly looking for the patients they have treated and operated on in Artsakh.

“I only spent a few hours with them, and during that short period of time, the soldiers became like relatives, you shared the pain with  them … I was overjoyed when I saw the guys who have already improved significantly, who have recovered, when serious health problems are already in the past, they are on their feet…”

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My conversation with the doctor was interrupted by a phone call: one of the recovered fighters called who had been operated on in Stepanakert hospital, and removed large fragments.

“Thank you, dear doctor, I am already well … I will go to the front line soon.”

Everyone is at the forefront, on the border of life and death, war and peace …

By ALIS ALAVERDYAN