Patients in severe and extremely severe condition continue to remain in medical institutions operating under the jurisdiction of the Artsakh Ministry of Health; all elective surgeries have been suspended in hospitals. It became known this morning that one patient in severe condition has died.
Mher Musayelyan, director of the Stepanakert Republican Medical Center, noted that from the first day of the blockade it was announced that there were patients in extremely severe condition who absolutely needed to be transferred to Yerevan, but to date there has been no progress on that front, and that is why one of those patients has died.
According to him, the deceased patient was a man born in 1980, who had been receiving regular kidney dialysis for 15 years. At this time, the man was not in a condition to be transferred.
On the afternoon of 19 December, the corridor was opened for a few minutes when an Artsakh ambulance, accompanied by the Red Cross, passed through the protesters, transporting a 62-year-old Artsakh resident who needed urgent heart surgery. An ambulance arriving from Yerevan was waiting for the patient in Goris to transport him to the “Nork Marash” medical center in Yerevan. The patient transported on 19 December was the first to be able to reach Yerevan.
At this time, 92 patients are receiving treatment at the Stepanakert Republican Hospital, 11 patients are in the intensive care unit, 4 of whom are in extremely severe condition.
In turn, Karen Melkumyan, executive director of the “Arevik” pediatric medical unit, noted that there are currently 12 children in their intensive care unit: “At present, the pediatric department is overloaded, where patients with bronchopulmonary pathologies are lying. The condition of the vast majority of them is assessed as stable but severe. The 4-month-old child in the intensive care unit is in extremely severe condition. His life is in danger,” he said.
Eteri Musayelyan, press secretary of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in Artsakh, said: “Today we helped in our role as a neutral intermediary so that one patient could be transferred to Armenia. Since this situation arose, we have been conducting discussions on various humanitarian issues every day, and we can record that today that one patient has been transferred, and we can say that we remain ready to support such issues.” She gave no information as to whether negotiations are taking place with the Azerbaijanis so that the other patients can also be transferred to Yerevan.
