STEPANAKERT, DECEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The patient who was transported from Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia for treatment will undergo an open-heart surgery, doctors said.

The patient is a 62-year-old man who underwent coronary angiography at the Stepanakert Republican Medical Center and it was revealed that he requires an open-heart operation, the hospital’s director Mher Musayelyan told ARMENPRESS. He said that all arrangements were in place with the Nork Marash hospital in Yerevan.

“But when the road was closed the patient was prescribed medicines and home treatment where he waited for the road to be opened. But he couldn’t wait any longer. The Red Cross offered to transport a patient to Yerevan, and we decided to transport this patient who has a heart problem,” Musayelyan said.

He added that there are 92 patients hospitalized at the Republican Medical Center. 11 are in intensive care. “If the patients are under intensive care it doesn’t mean that they need to be transported to Yerevan. Our hospital always worked normally and continues doing so. There were few cases when we transported patients to Yerevan before this situation. We were sending only those whom we can’t provide the necessary treatment, like today’s patient, because we don’t have a center where open-heart surgeries are done. Such surgeries are done only in Yerevan,” the hospital director said.

All other patients are receiving the necessary care because the intensive care department has the required equipment, Musayelyan explained.

He added that as of this moment they don’t have shortage of medicine. “We are still in control of the situation, but if the situation continues for long no one knows what consequences would occur,” he said.

A severely-ill patient was transported from the Stepanakert hospital to Armenia in neutral mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the ICRC Nagorno Karabakh mission spokesperson Eteri Musayelyan told ARMENPRESS.

Azerbaijan blocked the Lachin Corridor – the only road connecting Nagorno Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world – on December 12. A day later, Azerbaijan cut off gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh but restored it on December 16. The road remains blocked.