ARMENIA FUND TO ESTABLISH REGIONAL CARDIOLOGY CENTER IN SYUNIK

armradio.am
11.06.2009 11:09

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has begun construction of a cardiology
center in Armenia’s Syunik Region. The facility, to be built in Akner,
a community adjoining the City of Goris, will be affiliated with
Yerevan’s Center of Cardiology. The new hospital will be the only
one of its kind serving southern Armenia and Artsakh.

The project, with an initial cost estimate of approximately
U.S. $820,000, is financed by the fund’s French affiliate;
the French-Armenian Doctors’ Association (Association de Santé
Franco-Arménienne), based in Marseille; and the department of
Bouches-du-Rhône, a major administrative area in the south of
France. A considerable portion of the amount was bequeathed to the
fund by French-Armenian benefactor Krikor Shahinian.

"This trilateral collaboration, forged in Bouches-du-Rhône, one of
France’s largest departments, is further proof of the great trust
enjoyed by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund in the French-Armenian
community as well as with French regional authorities," said Bedros
Terzian, chair of the fund’s French affiliate.

The construction of the two-story cardiology center started in
May and currently its foundations are being laid. When completed,
the hospital will have a main ward with 16 beds and a polyclinic
capable of accommodating 20 ambulatory pati ents per day. In addition,
the grounds surrounding the future hospital will undergo extensive
landscaping, including the planting of trees.

According to Spartak Minasyan, mayor of Akner, the establishment
of the cardiology center will lead to the creation of ancillary
businesses and jobs in the area, fostering economic development in
neighboring communities.

"The availability of a full-fledged cardiology center in Syunik means
that patients in the region as well as Artsakh will have access to
high-quality healthcare locally and will no longer need to travel to
Yerevan to receive treatment," said Ara Vardanyan, executive director
of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.