Cancer mortality rate does not increase but even falls in Armenia: Specialist

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. In Armenia, likein the entire world,the number of patients with cancer is increasing from year to year. In parallel with it the diagnoses as well as methods of treatment develop, Head of Medical OncologyDepartment at NAIRI Medical Center Levon Badalyan mentioned during the interview in “Armenpress” media hall.

According to him, if we compare the rates of disease and mortality, it should be noted that the mortality rates do not increase but even decrease.

“An annual growth of over 8 thousand new cases of cancer morbidity is registered in Armenia according to the data of 2014-2015 and the mortality rate stands at around 5.000. Moreover, there are deaths among people who are diagnosed patients from previous years,” Levon Badalyan said.

Oncologist noted several reasons as the main cause of the disease. Negative factors related to the environment: air, water, food. Levon Badalyan singled out the smoking as a serious factor.

“Smoking is a great evil for Armenia. We can say that the major part of men is heavily-addicted smokers. During a day they smoke more than a pack of cigarettes. It already has a great influence in the case of cancer. In addition to smoking, stress has a negative impact. If a person is living in very stressful situations, his/her likelihood of occurrence of cancer is high,” the oncologist added mentioning that mainly lung cancer is common among men in Armenia and among women – breast cancer.

NAIRI Medical Center’s “Tamar Apkarian” Medical Department was established by resuscitator George Apkarian who works in the leading clinics of France. Referring to the question why Armenian patients strive to apply other clinics for treatment, George Apkarian mentioned:

“There are many good specialists in Armenia. It is already 4 years that OncologyDepartment at NAIRI Medical Center exists which works with the leading clinics of France. I can say that our specialists have seriously advanced and population should entrust Armenian specialists,” George Apkarian said.