A national stroke control program will be implemented in Moldova. The program will encompass health system reform measures and medical education programs for the general population. Additionally, the revision of the technical assistance protocols for cerebrovascular accident patients will follow, as well as the creation of a network of specialized sections for stroke patients.
The basis for initiating the program was discussed on Wednesday, June 18, during a conference organized by the Stroke Association of Moldova, an event that brings together the most prominent specialists from over 30 countries.
The president of the Stroke Association, the academic and university professor Stanislav Groppa, said that prevention strategies need to be redirected so that stroke prevention becomes a priority for doctors, society, as well as for the authorities. “In the Republic of Moldova, a vascular cerebral accident occurs each hour, while every hour and a half someone dies due to a stroke. On the global level, every second someone has a vascular cerebral accident, while within a minute ten people die. It is an epidemic and it needs to be stopped. Only together we can tackle this problem”, said the academic.
The President of Moldova, Igor Dodon, who was attending the event, assured those present of his support in initiating the elaboration of the National Stroke Prevention Program, as well as his support regarding the program's successful implementation.
The Vice President of the World Stroke Organization, Natan Bornstein, a professor of neurology in Israel, said that one in four people suffer from a stroke. "But stroke is a preventable disease and we can fight together to reduce this burden, both at the country and global levels", pointed out Natan Bornstein.
University professor Robert Mikulik, head of the Stroke research program at a Czech hospital, said that when he began to practice medicine, there were still no treatments for stroke, no dedicated agency to the prevention of this disease and no international collaboration. There were neither guides nor quality indicators, yet over the course of the last 20 years, work has been done and, gradually, the whole system has been changed. Even though some hospitals may not look like the ones in the US, the goal is to improve the centers that help patients with cerebrovascular accidents.
Anatol Guțu, director of the Edineț District Hospital, said that in Moldova the treatment of strokes is still being done in an outdated fashion. In his view, the use of thrombolysis, which would reduce the locomotor impairment in patients, would contribute to reducing mortality. Investments are needed in order to provide the necessary equipment, including tomographic computers.
Vitalii Dragoi, deputy director of the National Center for Urgent Medical Assistance UTA Gagauzia, said that currently, if the medical emergency team is dispatched to a patient who has suffered from a stroke, the team transports the patient to the district hospital for stabilization. Afterwards, the patient is taken to the Republican Clinical Hospital in the capital. If the necessary medications were available, such as thrombolysis, the ambulance doctors could act immediately, increasing the patient's chances of recovery after the stroke.
In the Republic of Moldova, the number of stroke victims has dramatically increased from 21 thousand in 1995 to 78 thousand in 2018.
