Armenian doctor to substitute Dr. Tom Catena in Nuba Mountains


(Armradio)- Armenian doctor Armen Mkrtchyan from the Austrian Child and Mother Hospital of GyumrI will replace Aurora Prize Laureate Tom Catena in Sudan’s war-ravaged Nuba Mountains. He will spend two months in Sudan.

For over ten years, Dr. Catena – known by locals as “Dr. Tom” – has been on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the Mother of Mercy Catholic Hospital to care for the more than 750,000 citizens of Nuba amidst ongoing civil war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement.

It is estimated that Dr. Catena treats 500 patients per day and performs more than one thousand operations each year.

In 2017 Dr. Tom Catena was honored with $1 million Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. As Chair of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative he continues to be engaged in social and political activity.