Why did an Israeli hospital treat Azerbaijan's vice PM?

Abid Sharifov was hospitalized in recent days at Haifa’s Rambam MedicalCenter in an emergency condition.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
From right: Abid Sharifov, Prof. Yvgenia Nikolsky, Prof. Mahmoud Saliman and Prof. Victor Kartzman (photo credit: RAMBAM HOSPITAL SPOKESMAN)
From right: Abid Sharifov, Prof. Yvgenia Nikolsky, Prof. Mahmoud Saliman and Prof. Victor Kartzman
(photo credit: RAMBAM HOSPITAL SPOKESMAN)
The vice prime minister of Azerbaijan, Abid Sharifov, was hospitalized in recent days at Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center in an emergency condition.
After feeling unwell, Sharifov was rushed to a hospital in Bako. The medical team there found his pulse was very slow due to arrhythmia and said it was endangering his life. After consulting his physicians, he was flown to Haifa and taken to Rambam where the diagnosis was confirmed.
When taken in for operating, he was found to have a pacemaker and automatic defibrillator implanted, it was also found that he had a significant blockage in a main cardiac artery. Associate clinical Prof. Mahmoud Saliman, Prof. Yvgenia Nikolsky and Prof. Victor Kartzman carried out the angioplasty procedure under the supervision of Rambam director-general Prof. Rafael Beyar, a senior interventional cardiologist.
The proceedure was completed successfully. The vice premier “invited us to visit in his home city,” the doctors said.