Armenia, being a middle- and low-income country, has a childhood cancer survival rate close to that of developed countries, Gevorg Tamamyan, the director of the Center of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology of Armenia, said at a press conference on World Cancer Day. Referring to the World Health Organization, he said that 80 percent of children with cancer recover in high-income countries. In low- and middle-income countries, the figure is around 20 percent.
“The survival rate for our children is around 70-75 percent, sometimes 80 percent. And that is when there is not enough money,” Doctor Tamamyan said, noting that 80-100 new cases of pediatric cancer are registered in Armenia every year.
Gevorg Tamamyan said that consultations are held with the best experts in the world regarding every child who is receiving treatment at the Hematology Center. This is not only good for the patients, but also for the doctors, who progress a lot as a result of such consultations.
Read also
According to Tamamyan, a palliative center will be established in Armenia with the support of the City of Smile Charitable Foundation, which will open soon. The children will receive palliative care there. The doctor said that it is important that the treatment of cancer in children is free in Armenia. He also said that the children being treated at the center and their families receive free food and psychological support.
Gevorg Tamamyan expressed hope that the state will take the burden of funding medicine upon itself. Until now, the foundation takes care of most expenses. He also said that there have been problems with registering medicines for decades now. “Since we are a very small country, many pharmaceutical companies do not wish to come and be represented here. I hope that state mediation will increase in terms of medication.”
According to the director of the Hematology Center After Professor R. Yeolyan, Samvel Danielyan, if we had 3-5 children out of ten recovering in the 1990s, then today, 7 or sometimes 8 out of ten children have the chance of completely recovering. “This is a result of sleepless nights and the hard work of a large group of doctors. An Armenian child who gets sick in Meghri or Noyemberyan can receive the same treatment as a child in London or Frankfurt.” But, as the director mentioned, Armenia is still behind the West in terms of results.
Lusine Budaghyan
