As of August 27, 212 stroke patients have already received medical services as part of a government-ordered ischemic stroke treatment program, with 45% of these patients coming from regions of the country, said Health Minister Arsen Torosyan during a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

According to him, 182 patients returned to normal life, and 30, unfortunately, could not be saved. However, without this program, most patients would most likely not have survived, since with a stroke it is very important to start treatment as soon as possible - then the chances of success will be quite high.

As part of the program, a patient with a stroke is delivered to one of two clinics, where they can be provided with the necessary aid.

For the shortest possible time, they undergo the necessary studies, after which there are two ways of treatment: a special drug is administered to the patient, which should dissolve the blood clot and restore the blood circulation of the brain. If the drug was not effective, you can perform an operation and remove a blood clot from the vessel. If you do all this quickly enough, there is a good chance that the patient will not only survive, but will recover and not have a disability.

The minister also noted that AMD 350 million were spent on 212 patients from the state budget - over 1.5 million per person. The total budget of the program is about 1 billion drams per year.

According to the minister, in the near future it is planned to start the program in the Astghik Medical Center, as well as to start involving regional hospitals in this program: they are unlikely to have a thrombectomy in these hospitals, but at least a thrombus-dissolving drug can be administered while the patient will be delivered to Yerevan.