ACNIS reView from Yerevan

After the “velvet revolution” and the start of a real fight against corruption and official crimes, the society witnessed an interesting reality. It is about the health of defendants who are in custody awaiting trial on charges. Also, it suddenly turns out that immediately after the arrest, the health of the accused begins to deteriorate sharply, and keeping them in custody becomes extremely dangerous for their lives. Two of the most vivid examples can be singled out: General Manvel Grigoryan, whose health was suddenly broken after his arrest, and 13 days in the “Izmirlyan” private medical center. the examples of Robert Kocharyan lying down.

People’s health, regardless of whether they are free or in custody, is the most valuable, and it is the duty of every state to provide medical care to a person. If a person is involved in a car accident, is injured in a natural disaster, or otherwise becomes unwell, he or she receives immediate medical attention, regardless of whether or not the victim has health insurance or money for treatment. The doctor or hospital has an obligation to provide medical care immediately.

To maintain these humanitarian rules, we all pay taxes, which the state then redistributes for these purposes. In our case, a special role is played by the prison hospital, where people in custody are treated who do not have the opportunity to attend a polyclinic or hospital. The prison hospital has the right, if necessary, to invite a specialist from the civil hospital for consultation, or if the doctors of the prison hospital decide that they are unable to treat the patient with their own resources or specialists, they send him for treatment to the civil hospital.

For example, in the case of Kocharyan, according to Tigran Yegoryan, the representative of the injured party, the lawyers and Kocharyan’s family keep in strict secrecy what illness the second president had and what surgery he had. But they have the right to it, because it is the patient’s personal life data. However, as Yegoryan said, the director of the hospital, Armen Charchyan, issued a certificate, according to which the patient’s condition was assessed as such that he cannot appear in court. After the operation, he needs post-rehabilitation time, and the patient must be in the hospital. Moreover, Yegoryan does not know if Charchyan gave that information as Kocharyan’s treating doctor or as the director of the hospital? “I want to remind you that Mr. Armen Charchyan is one of those doctors who, being in the seven-member committee investigating the condition of Artur Sargsyan (Bread Bringer), made a decision without examining him, that he can be in prison without any problems. And now, if Kocharyan’s condition is worse than Artur Sargsyan’s, then, it seems to me, Charchyan should give an explanation,” said the victim’s representative. As everyone knows, Artur Sargsyan died in the prison cell without receiving medical care, even though he had brought bread to those who needed it. for people, there was no crime at all.

Here some questions of interest to the public arise, the clarification of which would be desirable.

1. What is the role of prison hospitals in providing medical care to prisoners?
2. Based on the decision of which medical body does the court decide that the detainee needs to be placed in a civil hospital?
3. Do private hospitals have a state order to provide necessary treatment or perform operations on sick detainees? Who then pays for the patient’s treatment?

If the prison hospitals, which are obliged to provide quality medical care, dictate that such patients should be treated not even in the state, but in the most expensive private hospitals or abroad, it means that the condition of the prison hospitals and their staff is extremely unsatisfactory, and the Ministry of Justice should quickly solve this issue, which is extremely important for people’s health. Otherwise, it turns out again, like in the “good” old times. everyone is equal before the law, and some are more equal.

Karapet Kalenchyan