Former Health Minister Professor, Law and Justice MP, and distinguished heart surgeon Zbigniew Religa died yesterday following a long battle with cancer. He died in Warsaw aged 70.

Zbigniew Religa was a pioneer in cardiac surgery, and was the first doctor to perform a successful heart transplant in 1985, and the first to implant an artificial heart four years later. He was the founder of the Polish Association of Cardiac Surgeons and the Cardiac Surgery Foundation in Zabrze.

Deputy Sejm Speaker Krzysztof Putra has called Professor Religa an authority figure both in medicine and the social service, as he could unite people to act for a common cause:

"His sole presence made a difference, and whatever he approached, he did it with passion and commitment. And that is what I and I think everyone who met him, will remember him by. He was a role model, an authority that will not easily be replaced."

Professor Bohdan Maruszewski, head of the Polish Society of Cardio-Thoracic Surgeons, has said his achievements marked a milestone for Polish heart surgery:

"A great doctor, great man, great heart surgeon. The author of the Polish heart transplant programme and the country's most outstanding cardiac surgeons specialising in transplants. He created the first artificial ventricles in Poland - and that is what he considered to be his biggest achievement. He also made great changes and breakthroughs in the environment of Polish doctors.”