General information
Organization of the fight against lung diseases in Azerbaijan
The foundation of medical science in Azerbaijan, including the scientific basis of the fight against lung diseases and tuberculosis, is closely linked to the establishment of Baku State University and its Faculty of Medicine in 1919. Taking into account the spread of tuberculosis in the republic, and in order to strengthen the fight against it, develop prevention and treatment measures and promote the development of phthisiology, the Research Institute of Tuberculosis was established in Baku by Resolution No. 761 of the Council of People's Commissars dated 16 May 1944 and the order of the People's Commissar of Health of Azerbaijan dated 31 July 1944 (headed by Candidate of Medical Sciences Ahmad Jabrayil oglu Nurmammadov).
In the early years, the Institute studied problems such as “The clinical course of tuberculosis during the war”, “The spread of tuberculosis among military personnel”, “The spread of bone and joint tuberculosis and lymphadenitis among the local population” and “Pathomorphological features of tuberculosis during the war” (research by professors P. I. Blishenko, G. Salimkhanov and V. Abdullayev). New treatment methods began to be applied at the Institute. During this period, mass anti-tuberculosis vaccination of newborns was carried out in the republic, and sanitary and educational work among the population was expanded. In 1971, on the initiative of Heydar Aliyev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, a new building of the Institute was constructed and put into operation.
By 1971, dozens of rationalization proposals and several scientific inventions had been registered at the Institute, and monographs, methodological recommendations and numerous articles were published not only in Azerbaijan and the USSR but also abroad. Staff members were sent abroad to give presentations and exchange experience. By the 1990s the Institute's scientists were cooperating widely with leading scientific centers of the world, and the prestige of the growing scientific school kept increasing. The large-scale research showed that not only tuberculosis but also bronchopulmonary diseases were widespread in the republic (in a ratio of 1:12). Based on the results of these studies, it was proposed to rename the Institute the Research Institute of Phthisiology and Pulmonology.