Sad news has reached the Panevėžys Jewish Community and the public that famous former Panevėžys doctor Mira Rozova has died in Israel after suffering from chronic illness. For half her life she was the senior doctor at the Panevėžys Infectious Hospital. In 1954 she was graduated from the Krasnodar Institute of Medicine. She performed a three-year residence in Kaliningrad and then moved to Panevėžys in 1957. She worked as a therapist at what was the Republic Hospital and Clinic. The infectious disease division was small at that time. The decision was made to open a separate infectious disease hospital and young and energetic Rozova was appointed the director of the new hospital. The Infectious Disease Hospital was established in the Panevėžys Jewish Hospital on Ramygalos street, which needed repair following the war. The hospital operated for 20 years in the unrenovated premises.

The architect J. Skublickas drafted the design for the new building. The director, Rozova, and he traveled around Lithuania surveying how not to build buildings, and their survey was published in the Lithuanian press.

The building was old, with additions, and long narrow corridors with an abundance of windows. It needed to built to serve the requirements of epidemiology and the needs of the people who would work and convalesce there. There was a design for an elevator with large doors. The director and senior doctor, Rozova, was sure the architect could build a very beautiful building, but whether or not it would practical was for the client to decide.

The Infectious Disease Hospital was the first time an individual’s draft was used to build a building in Soviet Lithuania. During the grand opening Mira Rozova also gave birth to her own child. She had many responsibilities, including supplying the hospital with modern equipment, selecting the right medical personnel and organizing a special children’s department at the hospital. As with any collective of workers, there were workplace conflicts, but the head doctor also managed to solve them in a satisfactory way. The staff understood and appreciated their director very much.

Mira Rozova and her staff also rated first place professionalism in annual reports on medical organizations in the Soviet republic. Rozova also served as a member of the Panevėžys Soviet of People’s Deputies for many years.

Rozova opened the hospital up in the morning to patients from surrounding regions, not just the city of Panevėžys. The telephone never stopped ringing in her office. People sought out her advice not just on medical treatment, but also for information about pharmaceuticals and social issues. Rozova usually worked late into the early morning hours in her office. Her partner in life was her husband who was also an eye, ear and throat specialist doctor. They had a daughter, Natela. Although her parents harbored hopes she, too, would become a doctor, she became a teacher instead, at the A. Domaševičius School of Medicine. The family maintained a large library at home.

The Panevėžys Jewish Community and the entire Lithuanian Jewish Community express our deep sorrow and sympathy for her family members and friends on the loss of Mira Rozova.