Government approves release of 792 million drams loan to Сenter for Radioisotope Synthesis.

YEREVAN, February 6. / ARKA /. The Armenian government approved today provision of a 792 million drams loan to the Center for Radioisotope Synthesis. Economy minister Vahram Avanesyan said the loan is provided at LIBOR + 4 rate with a maturity of 15 years and a five-year grace period.

The decision on construction of ultra-modern oncology center in Yerevan worth €30 million was passed in 2009. The center will be managed by the US-based Global Medical Solutions. 

It will comprise three cutting-edge units: a laboratory hosting a cyclotron for the synthesis of radioisotopes, a diagnostic center with a non-prototype modern PET scanner to detect tumors in an embryonic state and, finally, a clinic to provide the isotope-based treatment of diseases.

Enabling the early detection of tumors, the center will help reduce the number of fatalities and promote the development of nuclear medicine in Armenia. Patients will have the possibility of choosing specific method of treatment.

As a nationwide center for treatment and prevention of cancer with the use of modern technologies, it will provide services for nuclear diagnostics, radiation medicine, chemical therapy, in-patient and outpatient surgery. 

In 2010 Belgian KBC bank signed an agreement with Armenian government to provide it with a 5 million euro loan for purchase of accelerator manufactured by Belgian IBA molecular. The cyclotron radionuclide accelerator will be used for producing isotopes as part of the project worked out by Yerevan Institute of Physics, for early diagnosis and treatment of cancer. 

According to the health ministry, 30,000 people in Armenia have cancer and their number grows by 3 percent every year.  ($1 – 409.72 drams ). -0-