Brief History of Plastination
in Kyrgyzstan
Georgii Belov , MD, PhD , Professor, Department of Pathologic
Morphology, Kyrgyz-Russian Slavonic University,
Dinara Idarova, Institute of Polymeric Technologies, Bishkek,
Kyrgyzstan .
Toledo
7/23/2011
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Reasons for Locating the Centre for
Plastination in Kyrgyzstan.
 Secular society structure.
 Unusual burial traditions.
 Strong level of medical education compared
to regional standards.
 Low labor cost for medical doctors.
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Secular society structure
 Majority of Kyrgyz people identify with
Muslim religion.
 Christianity is the second most common
religion.
 However, the societal and political structure is
very secular.
 Traditions, rather than religion, define
behavior.
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Burial Traditions in Kyrgyzstan
 Historically, bodies of the
deceased were not buried.
 Remains were kept in
ceramic vessels.
 Burana tower, main shrine
of Kara-Khanids of
Balasugan, holds many
such vessels from 9-13th
centuries A.D.
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Burial Traditions of Kyrgyzstan
 In Muslim traditions, bodies
are buried on the day of
death before sunset.
 By contrast, nomadic
Kyrgyz people awaited
relatives of the deceased to
come to the funeral.
 Kyrgyz people employed
primitive embalming
methods and death masks.
Golden death mask of Shamsin
clad.
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Medical education in Kyrgyzstan
 ~2,500 Medical Doctor graduates
per year for a population of
~5,000,000.
 Many graduate leave Kyrgyzstan for
better opportunities.
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Medical system in Kyrgyzstan
 Majority of medical
doctors are employed by
the state.
 State salary for a
pathologist is $1200 per
annum (2002).
 Kyrgyzstan was deemed
a favorable location for
the Centre for
Plastination.
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Soviet Legacy
Kyrgyz Medical Academy has a
history of scientific work
pertaining to medical
displays/museums.
 Yuri Lopuhin, graduate of Kyrgyz
Medical Academy and later at
Moscow Medical Institute of
Pirogov, was responsible for care
of Lenin’s mummy in Red Square.
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Recent History of Plasitinaion
 New developments in
morphological specimens are
associated with the
plastination methods
developed and patented by
Dr. Gunther von Hagens.
 Centre for Plastination in
Kyrgyzstan was opened in
1997, at the department of
topographical anatomy, State
Kyrgyz Medical Academy .
 Many medical doctors and
biologists were trained for
preparation of plastination
specimens.
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Recent History of Plasitinaion
 In 1998, the first hall of the
Plastination Museum was opened.
 In 2000, the second hall was
opened.
 This has been the largest investment
project in medicine in Kyrgyzstan.
The newest technologies of
sectional, 3-dimensional and
corrosion anatomic specimens
developed by Dr. Gunther von
Hagens have been introduced for
teaching and research process.
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The Museum of Plastination in Bishkek
The Museum of
Plastination
established in
Bishkek has more
than 1500
plastinated
specimens, including
15 whole anatomic
bodies.
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The Museum of Plastination in Bishkek
 Teaching specimens
plastinated in Kyrgyzstan.
 Focus on detailing of nervous,
circulatory, and muscle system.
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The Museum of Plastination in Bishkek
 Initially, the plastination process
was done by the existing staff in
the morphology department and
even medical students (Centre of
Plastination).
 Later, the Institute for
Morphology and Polymer
Technology was created and
separate staff was engaged for the
Institute. Management,
bookkeeping, and museum
professionals were hired.
 I, Georgii Belov, was the Director
of the newly created Institute.
 I worked in that function from
January 2002.
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The Museum of Plastination in Bishkek
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The Museum of Plastination in Bishkek
 The Museum became a place
for training of first year
students, but also for
practicing physicians and
surgeons.
 Mobile training sessions on
several topics were
organized for students of
other universities, schools,
and colleges.
 Many foreign guests,
physicians and laypersons,
people of different faiths
expressed their delight.
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Survey: Need for the Center for Plastination to the Medical Education
 Visitors to the museum in 2003
were surveyed anonymously.
 500 visitors:
234 – medical students
74 – other higher education
students
83 – high school students
40 – medical doctors
34 – other medical
professionals
35 – unrelated to medicine
 As seen from the graph on the
right, 486 visitors agree to the
need for the museum for medical
education, 4 disagreed, and 10
chose not to answer.
1% 2%
97%
Yes
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chose not to answer.
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Survey: Attitude Towards Utilization of Plastinated
Specimens
 90% showed
positive
response.
 7% were neutral.
 3% were against.
3%
7%
90%
positivt
against
neutral.
.
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Multiple Response Survey: Preferred tools for
Independent Learning Anatomy.





88% favored human
anatomical specimen
(including plastinated
specimens).
3% were against using
human specimens.
17% also favored
anatomical atlases.
12% also favored other
graphic tools.
16.5% also liked artificial
models of organs.
liked artificial models of organs
also favored other graphic tools
also favored anatomical atlases
against using human specimens
favored human anatomical specimen
0
20
40
60
80
100
234 medical students from
the original data were
surveyed.
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Plastinated Human Specimens versus
Other Human Specimens
 7% of medical students (surveyed in the previous
graph) did not favor plastinated sepcimens over
traditional preparations.
 This is due to the fact that the Department of
Pathological Anatomy at the State Medical Academy
has a unique collection of specimens. These
specimens were collected over a long period of time
and represent very unusual pathologies.
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Multimple Response Survey: Benefits of Plastination
Specimens over Specimens Prepared in Formalin
 Lack of smell and other




undesirable sensory inputs
(touch) – 54.7%.
Longevity and ease of use –
49.5%
High illustrative quality –
33.2%
Higher tolerance, among
first-year students, allowing
to overcome the
psychological barrier–29%
No benefits – 2.6%
No benefits
Higher tolerance
High illustrative quality
Longevity and ease of use
Lack of smell and other undesirable
sensory inputs
Same sample set of 234 medical
student visitors.
Survey allowed for multiple
responses.
0
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10
20
30
40
50
60
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Multiple Response Survey: Recommendations/Comments
for the Plastination Museum
 95.3% recommended periodic renewal/addition of




specimens.
71% wanted direct involvement in preparation of
specimens.
92% agreed that visits to the Museum increase
awareness about healthcare among general public.
73.8% agreed that the Museum should be open to
general public.
Only 9.4% believed that access should be limited to
medical profesionals and academic visitors.
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Survey: Attitude Towards Donation of
Body (Not Specified Use).
 21% of non-medical professionals visitors were open to body
donation.
 11% of non-medical professionals were against.
 8% of medical professionals were open to body donation.
 15% were against.
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Involvement of Politicians
 The legal basis concerning
anatomic specimens in
Kyrgyzstan was imperfect in the
early 2000’s.
 President (rector) of the State
Medical Academy in Kyrgyzstan
was also a senator in the Kyrgyz
Parliament.
 He actively questioned the
misuse of the money provided
by the World Bank for the
medical reform in Kyrgyzstan.
 Retaliatory involvement of
politicians in research and
teaching process broke off all
activity on plastination.
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Politicians Involvement in the Centre for Plastination
Representative to the Kyrgyz
Parliament, Leader of Afgan War
Veterans Party (2000-2010).
Currently arrested and being
prosecuted for corruption.
Senior Advisor to the
President (19992005)
O.I. Ibraimov
Chief of Stuff,
President’s Office
(2002-2005)
K. D. Djanuzakov
Currently arrested and being
prosecuted for corruption.
President of the
State Medical
Academy
I. Akylbekov
Died 01/16/.2010

Senior advisor wanted the President of the Medical Academy removed due to his activities as a
senator, questioning grant allocations.

The Centre was used to the remove the President of the Academy through criminal proceedings on
organ trafficing.

The Centre was accused of acting as a front for stealing and exporting human organs to Germany.

After the President of the Academy was removed and the Centre was closed, criminal proceedings
halted.
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Current State of Education Using Human
Specimens.
 Use of human organs,
including surgical amputated
material and placenta, are
restricted by health
legislation.
 Quality of teaching and
learning the anatomy has
decreased.
 The sanitary and technical
state of morgues has
worsened, and problems of
temporary storage and burial
of unclaimed corpses remain
unsolved.
It isn’t work for visitor
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Current Focus on Animal Specimens.
 Some of the trained personnel are currently working on a private




enterprise with a focus on animal specimens.
Technologies by Dr. Von Hagens are being used and further
developed, but only with animal specimens.
Scientific work is focused on perfecting corrosion-based
plastination methods.
Historically, animal species were used as models for human
diseases. This technology furthers this tradition but allows for
superior and unmatched illustrative quality.
Focus on animal species is not limited to anatomy. Specimen
developed with this technology can be employed in evolutionary
biology, experimental pathology.
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Specimens of Animal Origin
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Specimens of Animal Origin
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Thank You!
Georgii Belov
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