AMIC’s Newsletter, Montreal, Canada
AMIC’s Info-Flash
2340 Chemin Lucerne # 30
Ville Mont-Royal, Quebec
Tel : (514) 739 8950
Fax : (514) 738 2622
Web :
Email: [email protected]
March, 2005
1. Article 2: “Training programs in Infectious Diseases for
health care professionals of Armenia in
Argentina”
2. Article 3: “Birthright Armenia”
3. Article 4: “The Mental Healthcare in Armenia”
4. Article 5: ” Dr. Carolann and George Najarian’s judiciary
problem in Armenia
5. Article 6: “Armenian and Russian versions of the Dash
outcome measure
6. Article 7: “Armenian health-care professionals listed on the
New York Life Insurance list.
7. Article 8: ” What is AMIC?”
8. Article 1: “The 9th AMIC World Medical Congress in San
Francisco. Fairmont Hotel, June 29 to July 3,
2005
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2- Training programs in Infectious Diseases for health care professionals of
Armenia in Argentina.
Under the scientific and general supervision of FIDEC (Fighting Infectious
Diseases in Emerging Countries), with the financial support of the Armenian
community in the diaspora, the construction of an Infectious Disease unit at
Yerevan Pediatric Hospital was completed and opened on September 17, 2003.
This unit includes an equipped Microbiology Laboratory, areas to be used as
an Immunization Center, and offices for physicians who assist ambulatory
patients with infectious diseases.
Professional exchange visits have been ongoing since the project started.
Dr. Monica Graziutti and Dr. Gabriela Mikaelian, FIDEC’s collaborators in
Argentina visited in turn Yerevan for scientific follow-up in October, 2002
and July, 2003. Dr. Ara Azoyan, Director of the Infectious Diseases Hospital
of Yerevan and Dr. Avet Arslanian (Pediatric Surgery Hospital of Yerevan)
visited Argentina in March, 2004.
In May 2004 a cooperation agreement was signed in Buenos Aires between FIDEC
(Dr. Daniel Stamboulian) and the Rector of the Yerevan State University Dr.
V. P. Hakobyan, who visited Argentina for that purpose: the agreement
establishes continuing medical education and fellowship programs in
Argentina, for health care professionals from Yerevan State University, and
the Yerevan Pediatric Hospital.
Dr. Vigen Azoyan, the Chief of the Laboratory at No 1 Yerevan Pediatric
Hospital came to Argentina in August, 2004 for a two months period, for a
training in General Laboratory, including Bacteriology and Serology lab. He
learned different techniques, like ELISA and Inmunofluorescence.
“I came to Argentina with the purpose of learning how to use different new
laboratory techniques that are very necessary in Armenia. At this moment, in
the new Laboratory of Yerevan, we have automatized machines,
inmunofluorescence microscope and other new equipment”, confided Dr. Vigen
Azoyan.
The program also includes initiation to General immunization and Travel
Medicine because FIDEC is going to open an Immunization Center at Yerevan
Pediatric Hospital in order to provide routine and special vaccines that
will be administered by personnel trained by FIDEC according to
international immunization standards.
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3- Birthright Armenia
Birthright Armenia, a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, was created to
increase the number of young diasporans experiencing Armenia via volunteer
work, offering opportunities to study abroad and helping strengthen the
bridge between diasporan and homeland youth. To implement this ambitious
program, the organization provides roundtrip travel fellowships, with home
stay living, jobsite placement, free weekly educational excursions, help for
those who do not have basic proficiency in Armenian with language
instruction, and designs weekly seminars from which all volunteers can pick
and choose among topics like “better understanding the current political
cultural and socio-economic issues in Armenia today”.
This past summer, during its pilot year in operation, Birthright Armenia
successfully sponsored forty young volunteers between the ages of 18 and 32,
who represented seven different organizations and three countries. These
individuals traveled to their historic homeland, worked in a service
capacity, and studied the Armenian language to better understand Armenia,
contribute to the on-going development of the nation and to create
ever-lasting ties to the people and organizations they encountered.
In its first year of inception, the organization sponsored the Armenian
Assembly of America, the Armenian Church Youth Organization of America, the
Armenian Student Association of New York, the Armenian Volunteer Corp, the
Armenian Youth Federation and Land and Culture Organization, so their
volunteers could have the added benefit of all the incentives listed above,
ensuring their experiences were of the best quality. Also, Birthright
Armenia worked with one local NGO, the Armenian Medical Association, and
supported its newly created internship programs being implemented by local
NGOs in Armenia in a wide array of sectors including arts, education,
environment, human rights, social services and youth affairs.
For 2005, Birthright anticipates a total of 125 volunteers and with the
addition of several new local and diasporan NGOs, will be able to provide a
more diverse range of volunteer experiences. Alongside Armenians from
Britain, the USA and Canada, Birthright will be recruiting from France and
Switzerland, as well as sponsoring at least two dozen Iraqi-Armenian youth
for community service and study abroad programs. For more information on
Birthright Armenia, please visit heir Website at
or email [email protected]
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4- The Mental Healthcare in Armenia
Armenia is a country with an approximate area of 29743 sq.km. Its resident
population is approximately of 3.200 000. The country is in the low-income
group country (based on World Bank 2003 year criteria). During recent years,
the average length of life declined: the life expectancy at birth is 69.9
years for the male population (comparing with data of 2002, when it was
72.3) and 75.8 for the female population (comparing with data of 2002, when
it was 77.1)
There is a mental health policy, which was initially formulated in 1994. The
components of the policy are mental health advocacy promotion and
prevention. A national mental health program is not developed yet.
There is legislation on compulsory treatment. It was recently adopted and in
September, 2004, the specific law on psychiatric care was enacted. There are
budget allocations for mental health. In 2003, 1.560 000 Euros were provided
for mental service, which matches to 5.8% of the whole health budget and in
2004 the sum increased to 1.740 000 Euros, which corresponded to 4.5% of the
whole budget. The primary source of mental health is tax based.
Patients with disablement and chronically mentally ill patients receive
monthly payments for disability pension from the government. The treatment
of psychiatric patients at specialized institutions (in-patient and out
patient) is financed by the state. Regular training and retraining for
hospital nurses is not carried out in the field of mental health. There are
community care facilities for patients with mental disorders. Each community
and locality has its mental health providers.
Some statistics of the mental health care structures in Armenia:
Total psychiatric beds for a population of 10 000, 4.03
Psychiatric beds in mental hospitals (pop. 10 000), 3.8
Total number: 1220
Psychiatric beds in general hospitals (pop 10 000)
0.23. Total number: 75
Psychiatric beds in other settings (pop 10 000) 0
Number of psychiatrists (pop 10 000) 3.52
Total number: 113
Number of neurosurgeons (pop 10 000) 1.03
Total number: 33
Number of psychiatric nurses (pop 10 000) 0
Number of neurologists (pop 10 000) 7. Total number: 225
Number of psychologists (pop 10 000) 0.4
Number of social workers (pop 10 000) 0.08
Psychiatric services provision in Armenia is carried out by 2 kinds of
medical service: outpatient and in-patient. Five medical institutions are
providing mental healthcare. The treatment of patients is mainly organized
near their home, in close cooperation with the local primary care service.
NGOs are involved with mental health in the country. They are mainly
involved in advocacy and promotion. From 1999 and on, with the assistance of
the international organization “Médecins Sans Frontières”, it became
possible to organize seminars, workshops, social advertising, exhibitions
and even open a mental health center at the biggest psychiatric hospital of
Armenia. There are mental health reporting and data collection systems.
The country has specific programs for mental health for refugees, disaster
affected population and children that are financed by the state.
The drugs used for the treatment of mentally ill patients are outdated, very
few of them are new (such as Olanzin, Resperdal, and others), because of
their high prices. To the patients receiving ambulatory treatment, the drugs
are given free of charge.
As a result of a disastrous earthquake, military conflicts and other
disasters, there have been an increased number of persons in Armenia who
need medical and psychiatric care. International agencies and developed
countries as well, have helped the country in the process of restructuring.
For the improvement of mental services, the following is to be implemented:
-To elaborate the law on mental health
-To organize the training and retraining of hospital nurses in the field of
mental health.
-To create and open special community houses (centers) for the
post-rehabilitative therapy of mental health patients, where psychologists,
sociologists and nurses should be working.
-For the patients receiving protracted psychiatric treatment in mental
houses, work therapy should be organized.
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5- Dr. Carolann and George Najarian’s judiciary problem in Armenia.
In the Armenian Medical World, Dr. Carolann Najarian is well known. After
the earthquake of December 1988, she was among the first if not the first,
to run to Armenia; for nearly 16 years, she has been delivering medical
supplies, equipments, undertaking hospital and school renovations, assisting
villagers, invalids, veterans, orphans. She established medical centers,
like the Primary Care Center in Gyumri in 1994 and the Arpen Center for
Expectant Mothers in Artsakh (1995).
Above all, her action became the model, the reference to follow, as many
physicians told us; her book (A Call from Home, 1999), relates her emotional
and personnel journey to her “ancestral home”.
Knowing all this, one would think that “Carolann” should really feel and be
“at home” in Armenia; and yet since 2003, Carolann and her husband George
have been living a nightmare. Why? One would ask.
Responding to the Armenian government’s pleas to invest in Armenia, Mr.
George Najarian undertook projects and investments, trusting a person in
particular that he knew since 1988, as his representative in Armenia, only
to find out later, that he had been fraudulently deprived of his properties.
Since then, they have resorted to the judiciary system to ensure their
rights.
The only wish one would make is that the properties in question will be
promptly given back to their legitimate owners, and that Dr. Carolann
Najarian will have enough resources left in her to continue her wonderful
humanitarian work.
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6- Armenian and Russian versions of the Dash outcome measure. (This message
was sent to Info-Flash by Drs. Gevorg Yaghjyan, Davit Abrahamyan and Arthur
Gevorgyan).
The self-administered English questionnaire “Disabilities of the Arm,
Shoulder and Hand” (DASH) is a widely accepted tool for measurement of
upper-limb disability/symptoms. The purpose of our study was to translate
the DASH into Eastern Armenian and Russian, and evaluate their validity for
the patients living in Armenia. The whole process of cross-cultural
adaptation was performed according to the published guidelines of Guillemin.
This process lasted almost 1.5 year: from September 2003 when Plastic
Reconstructive Surgery and Microsurgery Center of University Hospital No1,
Yerevan, Armenia received official permission for this, up to January 2005.
As a result the final DASH-Armenian and DASH-Russian versions were devised
with excellent internal consistency and good construct validity assessed
using Spearmen correlations between DASH and SF-36 scores. These findings
suggest that the Armenian and Russian versions of the DASH outcome measure
retains the characteristics of the American original and may be a reliable
and valid instrument to measure disabilities/symptoms in Eastern Armenian
and Russian speaking patients with different disorders of the upper limbs.
It can also be used in patients, recently emigrated from Armenia or other
ex-soviet country who speak Eastern-Armenian or Russian and still are not
“culturally adapted” for the life in a new country. We encourage the use of
the DASH-Armenian and the DASH-Russian, which will facilitate international
multi-center studies and clinical trials by establishing standard measures
and obtaining comparable data. Both Armenian and Russian versions of
DASH-questionnaire are proposed to American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons
(USA) to be recommended as formal translated versions and they are available
on the website of Institute for Work and health (Canada) at
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7- Armenian health-care professionals listed on the New York Life Insurance
list.
Info-Flash received the list that was in circulation a few months ago among
Armenians, from New York Life Insurance Company in which 2300 names of
insured Armenians killed during the genocide (without leaving heirs) were
mentioned. On the list, one could read the names and surnames, the
professions and the geographical locations of the insured.
Out of curiosity, I tried to see how many health-care professionals had
contracted insurance policies in those days. Five categories were recorded:
Chemists/Druggists (probably the British terminology to indicate
pharmacists), Nurse (only one located in Kinzurk), Doctors, Dentists and an
Optician, (in Constantinople). Contrary to what one would think, the
Chemists are in larger number than the physicians (30 against 22). Also,
contrary to what one would think, there are no geographical clusters: 5
chemists residing in Constantinople form the only noticeable group. Among
the chemists/druggists we can read the name of one “Master of Pharmacy” in
Palou, and one “drug clerk” in Adana; and among the doctors, there are 2
“medical practitioners” in Sivas and M. el Aziz. The only other detail to
retain is that among the 10 dentists listed, there is one who had given the
city of New York as his place of residency.
Only 2.8% if the insured are health care professionals!
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8- What is AMIC?
The Armenian Medical International Committee was created fifteen years ago.
It is an umbrella organization that unites Armenian medical associations
throughout the Diaspora, creating thus a large network through which
information and data are exchanged.
AMIC organizes Armenian Medical World Congresses. So far eight have been
held in different cities of the Diaspora. In 2003, “The First International
Medical Congress of Armenia”, organized by Armenia, was held in Yerevan from
July 1 to July 3.
The 9th AMIC Congress will be held in 2005 (from June 29 to July 3), in San
Francisco (USA). You can have the latest news by visiting the website
and reading carefully the first paragraph of this issue.
AMIC publishes since 1988 an online newsletter and sends it freely to all
Armenian Health Care professionals. If you are a health care professional
and are interested in receiving Info-Flash, please send us your e-mail
address ([email protected]). To all those who already receive the Info, please
send it to colleagues, or give us their e-mail address, and do not forget to
send us your new e-mail address when you change it.
For further information visit our website:
A useful information to remember: you can send freely from wherever you are
located, medical equipment/medicine through the services of the United
Armenian Fund; President Mr. Harout Sassounian ([email protected])
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8- The 9th AMIC WORLD MEDICAL CONGRESS IN SAN FRANCISCO FAIRMONT HOTEL,
JUNE 29 TO JULY 3, 2005
EARLY REGISTRATION DEADLINE- APRIL 1,
2005
URGENT! URGENT! URGENT!
The deadline for early registration is fast approaching. You must register
and pay by APRIL 1 2005 in order to take advantage of reduced registration
fees. Until APRIL 1, 2005 fees are as follows:
Regular US $475
Nurses & Allied Health US $375
Residents & Students US $275
After APRIL 1, 2005 fees will be as follows:
Regular US $525
Nurses & Allied Health US $425
Residents & Students US $325
The registration fee includes light breakfast (Thursday, Friday, Saturday),
lunch (Thursday, Friday) and coffee breaks!
Visit the website at and print out the registration form and
fax or mail it. On the site you’ll notice the first class program of
speakers on topics of vital concern to Armenians worldwide scheduled for the
entire Congress; a unique opportunity to meet and discuss with
world-renowned specialists on Hypertension, Depression, Alzheimer,
Diabetes.. etc.., as well as to discuss projects and health issues in
Armenia and Karabagh.
Of course this is also a chance to visit fabulous San Francisco and an
interesting social program has been scheduled for all!
AMIC’s General Assembly will be held on Saturday July 2, from noon to 16
pm.
Don’t miss the 9th Medical World Congress and please ensure that your
friends and colleagues are made aware as well.