MARSEILLE - WEDNESDAY, 22nd MAY 2013

Dr Avédis Matikian was invited on Wednesday, 22nd of May to speak at the 12p.m. news programme on France 3 Provence-Alpes TV channel. Interviewed by journalist Muriel Gensse, the Vice President of the FACC referred to the work of the association and the opening of the French-Armenian Cardiovascular Centre (FACC) of Goris.

Muriel Gensse : “Dr Avédis Matikian, you are back from Armenia where you have opened a hospital, your hospital. It is located in Goris, four hour drive from Yerevan, in a totally isolated area. This is a crazy project, supported by your small organization of a few dozen members. You had to find a suitable land, build the hospital, make it operable ... I guess you had to move mountains to get to this project ...”

Dr Avédis Matikian (speaking on behalf of the President of the FACC Dr Telma Hératchian): “It seems crazy when you look at it from the outside, but when you're in the process, it seems banal...”

M.G.: “Because you have been working on the project for many years…”

A.M.: “Indeed. The AFHA has existed since twenty years, it was founded in 1993. Our work was originally directed towards health, because created by healthcare professionals, but not only of Armenian origin, and not only reserved for healthcare professionals. So it's kind of a special association.”

M.G.: “You have succeeded in mobilizing all the external motivations. The hospital has a particular feature: it specializes in cardiovascular disease, the primary cause of mortality in Armenia. What kind of technique did you introduce​there?”

A.M.: “This hospital is the culmination of nearly twenty years of work. 
First, the association has been training interventional cardiologists to unclog heart arteries that become blocked, causing myocardial infarction: the leading cause of mortality in Armenia, as you said. For this, we have to thank Dr. Paul Barragan who for years has trained all the cardiologists working in Yerevan. But we quickly realized that treating only in Yerevan was not enough. Because the Syunik, a region of southern Armenia, is four or five hours drive from the capital (depending on the weather)... and five hours is too much for an acute heart patient to reach Yerevan to be treated.”

M.G.: “And this is how you are saving thousands of lives…”

A.M.: “The objective of this hospital is to treat acute myocardial infarction. We are only practicing cardiology and interventional cardiology. This is a big achievement, the hospital has opened its doors since two months, and I can announce you a number that seems extraordinary to me: fifty people have been already treated and operated in this centre.”

M.G.: “Finally, what the association does need today?”

A.M.: “The association needs all good intentions to help morally, financially and professionally. Obviously, we need money, but also cardiologists who will be able to practice in the hospital.”