The complex will be built in Fourier Hospital and will be one of the ten places that provide care • "Establishing the service will prevent wasting time"
Fourier Hospital // Photo: Gil Eliyahu / Ginny
The first brain catheterisation center in the Eastern Galilee will be established in Fourier Hospital in Tiberias. The center in Poria will join nine hospitals that provide cerebral catheterization, mainly in central and Jerusalem.
Cerebral catheterization is one of the most advanced treatments for stroke, which can reduce disability and save lives, but in the north there are only cerebral catheterization units at the Rambam in Haifa and the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya.
Approximately 800,000 residents of the Eastern Galilee, the Golan Heights, the Jezreel Valley and the region do not respond, as brain catheterization is done within 8-6 hours of the stroke. Now Deputy Minister of Health Jacob Litzman has approved the opening of the center. It is estimated that in this region there are 650 patients per year, of whom about 250-200 are expected to need brain catheterization.
The center will be headed by Dr. Eran Meirovich, a neurologist who has undergone brain catheter training in France and returned to Israel. Next week, a fundraiser will be held at the Friends of Fourier Hospital, where donations will be made to purchase a dedicated angiography device for this treatment. The unit is expected to start operating during 2020.
MK Ophir Katz (Likud), who works to reduce the gaps in the provision of medical services between the periphery and the center, toured the hospital and asked the Deputy Minister of Health Litzman to approve the Fourier Medical Center for the establishment of brain catheterization. "This is a significant step for each of the 800,000 residents of the Eastern Galilee , The valleys and the Golan Heights, which have not received life-saving treatment, ”Katz said.
Dr. Erez On, director of the Peda-Fouria Medical Center, added: "Establishing the service will provide immediate treatment for stroke victims in need of brain catheterization, and will prevent long and costly loss of transfer to a remote center."
