For a long time, experts in the field of health care, doctors have been warning that the universal medical insurance implemented in RA has not been implemented properly, it has brought with it many problems, which the department coordinating the sector, the Government do not want to pay attention to in any way.

For example, one of the problems is that after the introduction of this system, the workload of doctors has increased, but their salary has remained the same.

Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Garik Aghabekyan in other words, what the Ministry of Health is doing today is haste, they are doing everything hastily, they are in a hurry.

“They do it just to fill the eyes and ears of the people, saying, ‘Look, look, we are doing work for you.’ I think all these are pre-election steps and they do more harm than good to the industry.

I agree that everyone should be insured, and that is a good thing, but, dear friends, the insurance that you do is the elite of the ministry: the minister, the deputy or, I don’t know, the head of the department, have they gone to the hospitals, polyclinics, have they seen the situation? We understand, they tell the people, the pensioners, that it is free, but have they seen the queues in the hospitals, man, aren’t those doctors guilty? How can a doctor admit so many patients in a day? Don’t they think that because of making a decision quickly, they compromise the quality?” 168.amGarik Aghabekyan said in a conversation with

According to the professor, a doctor who works very hard in the hospital, has a family, children, when he works so much, one day he may ask himself: why, why should the work increase, but the salary remains the same?

“We understand, a person loves his profession, took an oath to be a doctor, loves his homeland, but he should not work like that. Raise the doctor’s salary, let them calculate, understand, give a normal salary.

Medicine has 3 pillars: availability, quality and affordability. Now we have access, everyone goes to the doctor, waits for their turn, and the doctor accepts them. Especially among our people, it is accepted that what is free, everyone goes to use it, regardless of whether they need it or not. Medicine should not be like this, they will not get quality with this, they increase employment and there is no quality. We don’t get the quality, but the availability, go to hospitals and polyclinics and you will see,” emphasized our interlocutor.

According to Garik Aghabekyan, if the situation in the healthcare system continues like this, then people’s faith in doctors will decrease, moreover, there will not be such a quality that when a person wants to receive medical care, he simply will not receive it.

“They should give the doctors a normal salary and say: go do your job, suffer.

If this continues, our best doctors will simply leave Armenia and work abroad. Today, many doctors are looking for work abroad, all of them are tired of this situation, the same doctors say that we suffer so much, we get little salary, when they can do the same work in Europe, in Moscow, and get four times as much,” emphasized Garik Aghabekyan.

He is sure that the Ministry of Health will not take these issues into account in general, so he raises a rhetorical question: has there been any improvement during the tenure of the minister in charge of the sector?

“Previously, regional hospitals were under the care of head offices, this was abolished, now all regional hospitals are under the Ministry of Health. In other words, does the minister have so much time, is he so informed about the condition of regional hospitals, managers, chief doctors, that he is able to control? I think this is a fairy tale. Previously, the governorates barely managed all that, now can the minister bear all the weight?

It is sad, but I think it is a norm for the current authorities that we have a Minister of Health who is not a doctor. Let them bring the builder and appoint him the director of the hospital, what happened, he has a good education? It is not allowed. Without that, our health care system was in a dilapidated state, there is no need to demolish it, if they cannot strengthen it, at least preserve the existing one,” emphasized Garik Aghabekyan.

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