Construction of Oncology Center Starts in Stepanakert

The foundation for Stepnakert’s new oncology center has already been laid (Source: Public Radio of Armenia)

STEPANAKERT (Public Radio of Armenia)—The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund has begun the construction of a state-of-the-art oncology center in Stepanakert. The project is sponsored by the fund’s French affiliate, with additional financial support from the government of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Having laid the foundations, crews are now building the ground floor of the facility, which is located on the same campus as the Stepanakert Republican Hospital and the Stepanakert Policlinics. The Oncology Center of Stepanakert will have three floors, with a total area of nearly 2,520 square meters, and will be connected to the Republican Hospital via the ground floor.

The center will offer full oncological diagnosis and treatment services, with the exception of radiotherapy. According to Dr. Armen Hayriyan, Karabakh’s top oncologist and executive director of the Oncology Center, annually more than 700 cancer patients receive inpatient care at the center’s old building, which is a run-down, structure built in the 1960’s that lacks modern equipment. Given the old facility’s limited capabilities, Hayriyan says, many patients opt to receive treatment in Yerevan or even abroad.

A staff of medical professionals is currently receiving advanced training in France. “The new Oncology Center is poised to be one of the best in the region,” Hayriyan says.

The center will include general and clinical-pathomorphology laboratories; X-ray, mammography, and MRI departments; and departments of surgery and intensive therapy, including chemotherapy. The facility will have 35 patient beds.

The French-Armenian community continues to sponsor major health and education projects in Armenia and Karabakh alike. They include the Zangezur Cardiology Center, in Armenia’s Goris Region and the Yeznik Mozian Vocational School in Shushi, a critically needed, ultra-modern institution which officially opened its doors some weeks ago.