Thursday, May 24 2018 13:56

ArmInfo.The center of radiotherapy in Armenia will be eliminated. The decision on this was taken at a government meeting on May 24.  Presenting the draft  decision, RA Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan said that the  construction of the center began in parallel with the construction of  a radioisotope center, which were intended to become the basic  structures of the Center for Excellence in Oncology.

The decision to build the Center of Excellence was made by the Armenian government in October 2010. The project was implemented with credit from the World  Bank. 2.2 billion drams of budgetary funds and $ 4 million of credit  resources were invested to implement the program, of which exactly $  2 million was repaid. The work was fulfilled by 95%.

This proposal aroused the bewilderment of the Prime Minister, who  pointed to the fact of using significant financial resources for the  implementation of the program. "The work is completed by 95%, and  that, really, there is no possibility to bring them to 100%," Nikol  Pashinyan asked.

In response, the Minister stressed that with the liquidation of the  center the problem could not be fully resolved. There will be work  with the Ministry of Justice to find optimal solutions, including by  attracting possible investors. According to him, the equipment of the  center installed in the already constructed building was not even  tested.

In this context, the Prime Minister proposed to offer the shares of  "Radiotherapy Center" to the interested structures.

Earlier it was reported that the total cost of the program for the  construction of a modern Radiation Therapy Center in Armenia is $  12.4 million. The Center was built on World Bank lending resources as  part of the long-term program of the Armenian Center for Excellence  in Oncology. The project was to be implemented in three stages,  within the framework of which it was planned to establish  radioisotope production and create a Center for Molecular Prevention,  after which it was planned to create a Center for provision of  outpatient services in the field of radiotherapy, as well as (with a  private investor) a surgical and chemotherapeutic center. The first  stage of the program for the production of radioisotopes has already  been completed. It was envisaged that the Center will serve a minimum  of 1000 patients, about 400 patients will be able to undergo  brachytherapy, and the same number will be diagnosed. The Center was  created on the initiative of the National Competitiveness Fund of  Armenia within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding  signed between the Fund and the Belgian company Global Medical  Solutions. He received equipment worth 2.5 million euros, as well as  technical assistance in the framework of cooperation with the Belgian  company IBA. According to statistics, 2700 people are disabled every  year in Armenia as a result of cancer, which causes the economy to  suffer losses exceeding 75 million drams annually. About 32 thousand  cancer patients are on treatment in Armenia.