09:36, 3 March, 2020
YEREVAN, MARCH 3, ARMENPRESS. The recent successful surgery and treatment of 3-year-old Iraqi Yazidi Arzinda in Yerevan inspire the organizers to continue this initiative.
The initiative of organizing the surgery and treatment of Iraqi Yazidi children in Armenia belongs to Member of Parliament Rustam Bakoyan. The lawmaker told Armenpress that with this initiative they want to make this program continuous.
“As you know the first Yazidi child transported from Iraq to Armenia underwent a surgery in the Yerevan’s Nork-Marash medical center. Currently Arzinda is recovering. We are waiting for the second and third children. The doctors of the medical center are already aware of the health condition of the second child, and currently we are solving the issue of the documents in order to organize the child’s transportation”, the MP said.
The initiative was born when Rustam Bakoyan visited Iraq after elected as lawmaker. As he says, while becoming a member of Parliament he was thinking of being useful to the Yazidi people who not only live in Armenia but also around the world. In particular to help the Yazidis of Sinjar who faced genocide in 2014. During his visit to Iraq the Armenian MP examined the problems, met with the Speaker of Parliament and the government representatives.
“After getting acquainted with the situation in Sinjar I understood that assistance is needed in the healthcare sector. In particular, to provide medical aid to the Yazidi refugees. Upon my arrival to Armenia I met with Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan, firstly we discussed the issue of sending doctors to Iraq. The minister approved this idea. We were taking concrete actions on this path, but, unfortunately, the developments in the domestic political situation of Iraq led to killings of hundreds of citizens, so there was a concern. Thus, our initiative on this part stopped”, he said. But the MP says he needed to take some action, therefore he came up with a new proposal to organize the transportation of children to from Iraq to Armenia and conduct their surgery, treatment here. This time as well Minister Torosyan approved the initiative and expressed readiness to support. Nork-Marash medical center also joined the initiative. The funding of the initiative is carried out thanks to 2019 Aurora Prize laureate Mirza Dinnayi and his Luftbrücke Irak (Air Bridge Iraq) organization.
“Here I want to state that the cost of the surgery in Armenia is quite low, is almost half. If a similar surgery was organized in Europe, it would cost higher”, he said, adding that the doctors in Armenia do everything to organize the surgery of kids at the highest level. Those children are selected who do not have an opportunity to undergo a surgery in Iraq and have the most difficult health problems. Those children are selected who need an urgent surgery. The MP said it there are cases conditioned by other diseases and it wouldn’t be possible to treat them in Iraq, he is again ready to assist and transport the patient to Yerevan.
“I can state that the Yazidi community-state cooperation is already established. This initiative, the assistance of Armenian specialists received great reactions within the Yazidi community. Let me add that many people and organizations apply for providing assistance”, MP Rustam Bakoyan said, adding that they are open to cooperation.
Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan