Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Ministry of Healthcare to discuss ongoing programs and forthcoming activities. The meeting was attended by Arsen Torosyan, Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister, Acting Healthcare Minister Anahit Avanesyan, the acting deputy ministers, the heads of Ministry of Healthcare-affiliated agencies, other dignitaries.

Addressing those present, Nikol Pashinyan said: “Let me state that there are the first signs that the world is overcoming the coronavirus crisis. And those signs are primarily related to the volume of vaccines produced worldwide. In fact, even today - at least according to last week’s data - we can state a certain decrease in daily rates of infection in the Republic of Armenia. In this context, I would like to thank our medical workers, the Ministry of Healthcare because I think we have faced the epidemic with honor from the very first days. But today the content of our problems must be changed step by step.

At this stage, we need to have as many people vaccinated against COVID-19 as possible. First of all, this implies a health component, but I would like to highlight the economic-civilizational component as well. As tourist flows are on the decline, there is every reason to believe that being vaccinated against coronavirus will become a prerequisite for traveling in the near future.

We have developed an electronic platform of “green passports” in the Republic of Armenia, so that our citizens could have information certifying vaccination in their phones, which would allow them to travel amid restrictions. On the other hand, it is crucial for us to ensure growing flows of both departures and arrivals. In this regard, it seems to be obvious that countries are assessed according to the percentage of population vaccinated, which makes that the countries with high vaccination rates are considered desirable destinations for tourism.

At the same time, it should be noted that, as with other vaccines, there is a lot of speculation and debate about the coronavirus vaccines. But again, I want to cite the following example. There are dozens of unwanted cases reported among 200 million vaccinations, which have yet to be investigated. I think if we just experimentally ask 200 million people to drink a glass of plain water, there will be dozens of unwanted cases, because people do not only deal with the coronavirus or water alone, they have various health problems and nevertheless, they may face undesirable situations.”

The Acting Prime Minister stressed that everything should be done to make vaccination widespread in the Republic of Armenia. “I do not want to say universal, but at least widespread. The number of citizens vaccinated against COVID-19 is a little over 5,000 in our country. I wish to state that this index is not satisfactory at all, we must at least redouble the daily rate and we must do it very quickly. On the other hand, we should not forget about the observance of safety rules, because vaccination does not mean that everything is over.

Vaccination means an opportunity for us to complete the process. I am happy to report that our high-ranking government officials are setting an example of vaccination. I was vaccinated myself and I can say that I did not feel any change in my condition after being vaccinated, and I spent a few hours in front of the cameras in the National Assembly following vaccination. I also inquired from one of our other vaccinated partners that none of them had any work-related problems. I once again call on all our citizens. Initially, the number of vaccines was small, and we were set to vaccinate a certain age group, but after getting extra lots of vaccines, any citizen over the age of 18 can be vaccinated free of charge in our country. Yesterday I noticed that not all citizens were aware that vaccination was free. In many cases, people think that they have to pay for it, etc. I want to state that vaccination is carried out free of charge in the Republic of Armenia, or rather at the expense of the state budget, and citizens have no problem in this respect. We need to raise the public’s awareness on this issue. Awareness raising efforts should be made on a daily basis.

We have to be very careful in using this opportunity in order to counter the anti-vaccination discourse altogether. The point is that we had a problem even before the coronavirus pandemic. I do not know the purpose of the ongoing anti-vaccination campaigns. Experience has shown that in cases where we have carried out appropriate vaccinations with the logic of disease prevention, we have, in fact, overcome those diseases without having any cases of that disease at all for years.

Therefore, we should present to the public the situations faced in our daily work in order to show the correlation between vaccination and sickness or infection rates. This logic should be made known to the people; we should be transparent, so that people have no doubts in this regard,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

The Acting Prime Minister also referred to some of the work done in the field of healthcare, noting that the volume is actually very large. Nikol Pashinyan singled out two special programs. “The first program that I am very interested in is when, from 2019, we included the families of the servicemen of the regular, junior non-commissioned officers in the state-guaranteed free medical care program. I want to state that in this case, too, the goal of the program was not only health, but we are convinced that with such programs we are just helping the Armed Forces to boost their combat effectiveness, because a soldier may have a feeling of despair when he looks back at how his sick parent's health should be taken care of or whether someone will take care of it. I consider it important to say this today, since there is a lot of talk about the work done to increase the combat effectiveness of the Armed Forces. I would like to emphasize that the work we have done has highlighted not only the acquisition of armaments, not only the increase in salaries in the Armed Forces, not only the introduction of a new catering system, but also the health programs that are very important.

Second, the provision of in-patient services for children under 18 is funded by the state. In fact, this program has a very serious content, which we have not talked about, but we must talk about it carefully now. Unfortunately, we recorded back in 2018 that the vast majority of our 18-year-old boys have health problems, i.e. this program was not born just like that, or was not born due to taste or some circumstance. The overwhelming majority of teenagers have health problems. I just believe that it was one of the biggest failures of our state.

On the other hand, I want to say that the provision of in-patient services for children under 18 as part of the state order is not a solution to the problem: it is just a struggle against repercussions. In this regard, I think it is crucial for the education system to hold physical training classes properly, because even in the schools with the best conditions, gyms, etc., physical education classes are not always conducted at a proper level. For example, when I visit an educational institution and enter the gym, I see that children are making some irregular movements in jeans and walking clothes. One can say, well, take it easy, let children play and run, but as coupled with improper diet it can lead to serious problems. These issues are closely interrelated, some of which should be addressed by the Ministry of Healthcare.

Preventive medical examination and maintenance are extremely important. We are faced up with big difficulties in this field and we have to talk about those complications.

It is true that so far we have not talked much about these topics for other reasons, for obvious reasons, but we must admit that we have serious health problems in our society in general, especially among teenagers and children. The Ministry of Healthcare is not the only one to deal with these problems. But on the other hand, we can say that we have a priority agenda for developing health infrastructure.

The Artashat Medical Center and the Sevan Medical Center have been commissioned of late. The construction of Martuni Medical Center’s new building started last year and is due to be completed in 2022. In addition, the refurbishment of 6 medical centers started in 2021. I mean the National Mental Health Center, the National Center for Infectious Diseases, the medical centers in Sisian, Talin, Charentsavan, and the Tsaghkahovit Health Center. There are several other projects that we have talked about publicly. We will consistently carry out follow-up work in this direction,” Nikol Pashinyan said.

Acting Healthcare Minister Anahit Avanesyan referred to the work done during the past year and the upcoming programs. She noted that during this time the country’s health potential was aimed at combating COVID-19 and providing medical services to citizens injured in hostilities.

It was noted that almost all capacities were used to solve these problems. According to the acting minister, the experience of the whole world shows that the most effective way to fight the coronavirus is vaccination. There has been a sharp decline in coronavirus cases in countries where a significant proportion of citizens have been vaccinated. Today the ministry’s primary task is to carry out a large-scale vaccination campaign.

Anahit Avanesyan stressed that our country has sufficient stocks of vaccines. She advised that mobile vaccination centers shall be established in Yerevan. Outpatient clinics will be open on Saturdays and Sundays.

Concerning the medical services provided to those injured in the war, Ms. Avanesyan reported that the target groups can benefit from full rehabilitation services as the medical centers have been re-equipped to provide such services.

Anahit Avanesyan reported that the DNA samples of 3,750 war victims have been taken, and 3,396 death certificates were issued. The process of DNA testing continues, work is underway in cooperation with Russian and Dutch partners.

During this period medical care was provided to the families of prisoners of war and missing persons, as well as to persons domiciled in Artsakh. The government decision on the procedure for providing medical care and services and on the criteria applicable to beneficiaries using free or preferential assisted reproductive technologies is being successfully implemented.

The amendments seek to mitigate the aftermath of the Second Artsakh War, provide for medical care with the use of assisted reproductive technologies to the parents of the son who fell in action or died as a result of hostilities during the war and its aftermath, as well as to streamline their rights and the relationships stemming from the process of their implementation. The decision allows parents of children affected by the war to use the services provided by assisted reproductive technologies in the absence of medical contraindications. 68 persons are already benefiting from this program.

Special attention is given to issues related to maternity and child care. In this connection, it was reported that 13 cases of maternal mortality were registered in 2019, and 7 in 2020, 5 of which due to COVID-19. Six maternal deaths have been reported this year, four of them casued by coronavirus infection.

It was also reported that capital programs worth 3 billion drams are envisaged in the field of healthcare in 2021, as a result of which 7 medical centers will be built and reconstructed in Armenia. Design work and cost estimates for construction of several MCs are complete.

Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan instructed those responsible to allocate the necessary funds through budget redistributions to implement the programs.