Mārtiņš Malzubris, Officer of the Order of the Three Stars, Helps Patients in Latvia, and Wounded in Ukraine

On 17 October 2022, the Chapter of Orders appointed Mārtiņš Malzubris, a lecturer at the Department of Orthopaedics at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Faculty of Medicine, as an Officer of the Order of the Three Stars. He is also an orthopaedic traumatologist and the Head of the Traumatology Centre at the Hospital of Traumatology and Orthopaedics in Riga.

Mārtiņš Malzubris was awarded the state decoration for his outstanding work in traumatology and reconstructive surgery and for his selflessness in helping Ukrainian soldiers wounded in the war.

On 18 November 2022, the President of Latvia Egils Levits presented the Order of the Three Stars at the Riga Castle to Mārtiņš Malzubris (on the right), an orthopaedic traumatologist and lecturer at the RSU Department of Orthopaedics. Photo: Ilmārs Znotiņš, Chancery of the President of Latvia

What do you enjoy most about your work at RSU and the Traumatology Centre?

The answer is quite simple and, in my opinion, would be the same for most medical professionals – the satisfaction of a job well done! Whether it is a recovered patient who can walk and run again without pain, or a student who has understood the subject and expresses a desire to learn more by volunteering and who perhaps even becomes a colleague later.

The state decoration is awarded for special merit. Which of your achievements are you most proud of?

I am deeply grateful for the honour bestowed on me and my teacher, Dr Olafs Libermanis, by the Order of the Three Stars. Our decision to go to Ukraine was instinctual, like a medical professional’s need to react in relevant situations.

I see this award as an advance, as an early assessment of the many things that still need to be done. It is a great honour and a great responsibility.

I believe that the work has only just begun and, God willing, the most serious achievements are still ahead of us.

Story on LTV programme Aculiecinieks from 26 March 2022 about Latvian doctors’ Olafs Libermanis and Mārtiņš Malzubris work in Ukraine (in Latvian)

ReTV story “Latvian Doctors Operate on Victims in Ukraine” from 15 March 2022 (in Latvian)

What is the most important aspect of your work at RSU and the Traumatology Centre, or that takes up the most time?

The work is very intensive. I am the head of Unit 4 of the Traumatology Centre that deals with septic and reconstructive surgery. I spend quite a lot of time in the operating theatre, because our team of surgeons is still developing and growing. I am very grateful to my colleagues for the opportunity to be part of the team: the ward staff, the nurses, nursing assistants, orderlies, orthopaedic traumatologists, infectologist Dace Vīgante, and the hospital specialists we have attracted.

The specific nature of the work in the unit is that we treat patients with complications. This is a very demanding group of patients who have been ill for a long time or have multiple co-morbidities. Each case is completely different, so a good outcome is only possible if all colleagues work together. It is time-consuming, but absolutely necessary!

It is a pity that we spend so much time and energy on things that are not directly related to medicine – managing hospital admissions due to overcrowding, patients’ social problems, lack of certain resources. These problems are related to medical poverty and a lack of resources.

The work in the RSU Department of Orthopaedics is interesting and definitely necessary, because passing on knowledge to future specialists is a natural process of medical succession. I conduct classes on musculoskeletal infections for students in the orthopaedic traumatology module.

Because of my large workload, I do not have many classes, but I enjoy them, because sometimes the students’ enthusiasm energises me more than the teaching exhausts me.

RSU Research Week will take place in spring 2023 with a variety of events and several international conferences dedicated to medicine as well as health and social sciences. Do you plan to participate and if so, how?

RSU Research Week is a major event showcasing research outcomes. Yes, I will definitely participate and talk about the topic of my doctoral thesis. My thesis supervisor is RSU Assoc. Prof. Pēteris Studers, who is a very good colleague and an even better teacher. Although I am certainly not his best student, I will do my best not to let him down.

What should Latvia citizens keep in mind in order to make the country prosperous welfare state in the future?

Do you mean what the country’s recipe for happiness might be? I think that the poet Imants Ziedonis once described it quite accurately. There is no real recipe, just many little suggestions:

do your work to the best of your ability, treat others like you want to be treated, do not envy others, help those in need, don’t be afraid, create more than you consume...

These are ideas that we need to feel in our hearts and act on with our hands and our heads.

What gives you strength and energy in these difficult times?

Family! It’s that simple. The rest is just a bonus.

It will be Christmas and a new year soon. What do you wish for the RSU community in 2023?

I wish for everyone to find or keep their own peaceful haven, their own source of strength, their own oasis where they can come back to from work, relax, and then continue working with joy and energy towards new goals!