Provincial medical facilities in Armenia in want of personnel

YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. Provincial medical facilities in Armenia
are badly in want of medical personnel, particularly physicians and
surgeons, Health Minister Derenik Dumanyan said Friday at a news
conference.

`We need 259 doctors, and this is a deep concern for us’ he said.
`There are even provinces having only one specialist. In particular,
Vayots Dzor province has only one anesthesiologist for Vayk and
Yeghegnadzor.’

He also pointed out another problem – a wide gap between financing
provided to Yerevan and provinces.
The minister said provinces receive 58% of the financing provided to
outpatient centers, while stationary medical centers there receive
only 30% of total financing.

`That is why medical centers in provinces are financed poorly, and
very often provincial physicians themselves refer patients to the
capital,’ he said.

As a result, he said, despite the fact that almost all the provinces
of Armenia have large properly-equipped health centers, people there
have little confidence in local specialist and go to Yerevan for
medical services. -0–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress