Armenia health minister: Bone marrow transplantation will be carried out by state order

Bone marrow stem cell transplantation surgeries will be carried out in Armenia by state order, said Armenian Health Minister Arsen Torosyan.

Earlier, 50% of the cost of the surgery was paid by the state, and the remaining 50% was paid by the patient. In the near future, the state will bear all the costs of the surgery, allocating AMD 1.6 million for one patient.

According to the minister, when a surgery is performed for one patient, it is very expensive: the entire department works, and huge expenses are required for air purification and other measures necessary for the safe keeping of the patient. If at the same time several patients receive such treatment, the costs can be significantly reduced.

The Minister also noted that in the near future it is planned to create a centralized register of donated blood stocks and an effective system for its distribution so that citizens do not have to search for donated blood. After creating the registry, hospitals can use it to find out where the blood type they need is and organize its safe transportation.

The first autologous bone marrow transplantation was performed in Armenia on April 10, 2017: a 50-year-old woman from Artsakh became a patient with myeloma, a malignant blood disease.