In Memoriam
Prof.dr. Vladimir Hotineanu (1950-2019)
One of the greatest personalities that the Republic of Moldova has ever had left us too soon.
He was, above all, a great surgeon. Educated at the Moldovan medical school, Vladimir Hotineanu went through all the steps of the professional hierarchy, crowned with the title of habilitated doctor and then with the title of Professor of the “Nicolae Testemitanu” University in Chisinau and Head of the Surgical Clinic at the Republican Hospital in Chisinau.
In all stages of his professional development, he was the leader of a generation, a position he honored from all points of view.
The appreciation he enjoyed at the University translated into his election as Vice-Rector.
As head of the Surgical Clinic at the largest hospital of the Republic, he modernized the clinic, expanded the range and complexity of surgical interventions, created the premises for liver transplantation in the Republic of Moldova and formed an elite school, led by his son, today’s teacher, Adrian Hotineanu.
During a career spanning more than 40 years, he performed thousands of operations, some of them particularly complex, with remarkable results. He saved the life and restored the health of many suffering people, whose gratitude will accompany him forever.
He formed generations of young people who today continue the traditions of the medical school in the Republic of Moldova, at home or on other meridians of the globe, where they took with them the fame of the school whose eminent representative was Professor Vladimir Hotineanu.
He was editor-in-chief of one of the most prestigious medical journals in the Republic of Moldova, Ars Medica.
Datorita imensei reputatii profesionale pe care si-a creat-o a fost ales membru al Academiei de Stiinte a Republicii Moldova si membru de onoare al Academiei de Stiinte Medicale din Romania.
De asemenea, a primit cea mai inalta decoratie a Republicii Moldova, Ordinul Republicii acordat de către Președintele Republicii Moldova, Nicolae Timofti in anul 2013 „în semn de înaltă apreciere a meritelor deosebite față de stat, pentru muncă îndelungată și prodigioasă în domeniul de activitate și înaltă măiestrie profesională”.[4] a
He was elected a member of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, of which he was a member between 2009 and 2019, and between 2009-2011 he was Minister of Health.
In these qualities, he did his duty to the people in the midst of which he was born with a devotion and seriousness as great as those he proved in the operating room.
He fought for a better financing of health, for the improvement of rural medical care, for the modernization of hospitals and for the introduction of new technologies.
The greatest achievement remains the new operating block at the Republican Hospital in Chisinau, built according to the highest standards and equipped with cutting-edge technology.
Vladimir Hotineanu contributed to strengthening relations with Romania, feeling that his roots are there.
In particular, I must mention the relationship with the Fundeni Surgical Clinic, where he sent his entire team to learn liver transplantation and with whom he collaborated when this operation was performed for the first time at the Republican Hospital in Chisinau.
The national liver transplant program in the Republic of Moldova remains another great achievement of his, which his son Adrian brilliantly continues.
Professor Vladimir Hotineanu had a wonderful family: the distinguished Mrs. Raia Hotineanu was his devoted wife and reliable support throughout his life; the children, Iulia and Adrian embraced the same career as their father and Adrian became a university professor and surgeon of great reputation. From the two children, he had several grandchildren whom he loved enormously.
For me, Professor Vladimir Hotineanu was “Vadim”, one of my dearest friends; a man whom I appreciated and respected as a professional, but whom I loved for his warmth of soul, for his pure Romanian patriotism and for the sincere friendship he knew how to show.
We lived wonderful moments together in the operating room, in the congress halls, in his welcoming house, on the underground streets of Cricova or in the wonderful landscape of Orheii Vechi.
Moments that I will never forget and that bound us forever.
The last achievement of Vladimir Hotineanu showed us another facet of his personality, unknown and perhaps even unsuspected until then: that of a writer. The novel “Missing Bessarabia” is, without a doubt, a masterpiece, a book that will remain in the history of literature and only that of the Republic of Moldova.
It is a page of rare drama in the history of a people that has been tried hard throughout history.
A novel written with a surprisingly expressive pen but also with the heart, a heart of a great patriot, who lives the shocking story with the same intensity with which the heroes of the book lived it. These heroes are none other than the parents and grandparents of Vadim, the one who felt all his life that he had a moral duty to tell the world who they were but, above all, how much they suffered and with what dignity they endured this suffering.
A message addressed to future generations about work and duty, about death and suffering, about broken destinies but also about dignity and faith in God.
It was, I think, Vadim’s soul project, which he had to postpone for a long time due to his overloaded schedule. He managed to finish it only a short time ago.
When he put down the pen, he self-diagnosed the merciless disease that ravaged him.
That’s how God wanted, to call him to him after he had fulfilled his earthly mission to the end.
For us, however, he left too soon and his loss leaves a great void in our hearts.
However, he will remain, forever, in the history of his country as a great surgeon and teacher, as a devoted patriot and as a writer from whom remains a shocking testimony about the suffering of an entire people.
God rest his soul!
Prof. Dr. Irinel Popescu
Center for digestive diseases and liver transplantation – IC Fundeni
