Author: Emil Lazarian

THE SUCCESS OF “ADANA” IS SCOTLAND
A1+
[04:11 pm] 18 September, 2006
In the third match of the first qualifying phase of the UEFA cup
which took place in Scotland futzal champion of Armenia “Adana” beat
“Fair City” from Scotland 5:3 and topped the list of the third group
with 7 points.
In the next phase the champion of Armenia will play with “Sporting”
from Portugal, “Korzov” from Poland and “Alfa Parf” from Macedonia. The
games will take place on October 9-12 in Poland.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THE VISIONARY DOCTOR
Express Healthcare Management, India
Issue dtd. September 2006
Dr Alok Roy, Vice President, Fortis’ Centre for Community Initiative,
has to his credit the record of building the maximum number of
hospitals in India. But his heart beats for rural healthcare. He
talks to Sapna Dogra about his life, profession and dreams.
Micro health insurance, telemedicine, HIV/AIDS and corporate social
responsibility are the four areas where the 48-year-old Dr Alok
Roy’s heart lies these days. According to him, weak forces drive the
world because strong forces are very few and they can’t bring in any
change. Therefore, it is important to empower the weak and healthcare
is an intrinsic part of the process. To change the lives of the people
in the hinterland, corporate hospitals won’t really help, says the
philosopher doctor. These four arenas can change the lives of the
people, which is more important than merely providing treatment,
professes Dr Roy.
A Born Leader
Born in 1958 in Allahabad, Dr Alok Roy had a normal middle-class
upbringing. He is the youngest of the five siblings (two brothers and
three sisters), but calls himself the mentor as they all listen to his
advice. His father had a transferable job in the Central Government,
which made the family traverse the entire length and breadth of the
country, including Delhi, Maharashtra (Mumbai) and Orissa. “I guess
this is the reason that I don’t feel I belong to one region or state
but I feel for the entire country,” states Dr Roy. However, he has
a soft corner for Kolkata because he spent eight important years of
his professional life there and built four hospitals.
Being the youngest in the family, naturally he was naughty and
mischievous, but he was a bright student.
He used to play cricket in school and college, and was a part of
NCC. He was a shooter. He also contested in college elections and
won. “I would take part in each and every competition both at school
and college level,” he remembers. Though no one in his family was a
medico, since childhood Roy nurtured the ambition of being doctor. The
reason was noble. He thought a doctor could have an impact on other
people’s lives besides being respected by all.
As a youngster he used to read avidly since there was no TV then. He
devoured classics by literary luminaries like Premchand, Tarachand
Bandopadhaya et al. “I think vernacular literature is very rich and I
had read all the classics in Hindi and Bangla while I was in school,”
divulges Roy. Currently, he is reading ‘Managing Without Power’
by R Meredith Belbin.
According to him, “It is an interesting book on gender, which says
anything weak will sustain in the long run.”
Beginning Of An Illustrious Career
After class 12, he sat for the medical entrance test and was seventh
in merit for SCB Medical College, Cuttack in 1976. At that time, his
father was posted in Cuttack. In 1983, he joined the AIIMS for PG in
nuclear medicine. After that he did one year DRM from Mumbai. What
made him choose nuclear cardiology? “It was a lesser-known field that
time and I loved challenges,” he reasons. Also, there were limited
options; he wanted to do something different.
He had opportunities to go abroad at that time. “AIIMS was producing
PGs to go to the US,” he says. But the patriot in him didn’t want to
leave India and he decided to stay back because there was so much to
do here.
On May 10, 1988, he got an offer to join BM Birla Heart Centre. “That
time there were not many private hospitals in the country except
for a few like Jaslok Hospital and Bombay Hospital and though I got
a job as Assistant Professor at SGPGI Lucknow, I decided to join
the private hospital, which was a very bold step those days,” he
reminisces. Everyone was against this decision, but his wife Kavita
supported him all the way through.
He helped set up the 140-bed BM Birla Heart Research Institute in
Kolkata in 1989. He also managed the institute for about eight years,
during which period more than 8,000 major heart operations were
performed there. In 1996, he joined Manipal Heart Foundation (MHF)
and was responsible for the turnkey management at MHF, a 200-bed heart
hospital project. “It had six operation theatres to perform 12-14
heart surgeries a day and three cardiac catheterisation laboratories.
The centre performed 6,000 major heart surgeries in a record period
of less than four years,” says Dr Roy.
In the year 2000, he set up the 130-bed Rabindranath Tagore
International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Kolkata for the working
class families of West Bengal in association with the Government of
West Bengal. He has also been successful in setting up the world’s
largest 780-bed super speciality heart hospital, Narayana Hrudayalaya
in Bangalore. The first phase of this hospital with 280 beds was
commissioned in April 2001 and has already achieved a path-breaking
record of performing over 4,500 surgeries, over a period of 18
months. He also built Armenian Church Trauma Centre in 2004.
In 2005, Roy joined Fortis Hospital Noida as its CEO and under his
guidance, the hospital has earned a name for world-class facilities
and treatment at affordable rates. “I wanted Fortis to be more than
just a healthcare delivery centre, it should work beyond the realm
of health providers; hence we started telemedicine, micro-health
insurance activities and, health camps,” says the visionary doctor.
Re-engineering of hospitals is Roy’s passion.
Recently, Rahul Gandhi entrusted him with the responsibility of
revamping the 300-bed Sanjay Gandhi Hospital at Amethi in Uttar
Pradesh, which was built in 1984. It is a not-for-profit hospital
which Roy would turnaround so that it can carry out 5,000 OPDs per
month and 6,000 surgeries per month.
Even as he heads a corporate hospital, Dr Roy says, “Corporate
hospitals don’t have the reach nor have the inclination to work for
the people of the hinterland.
If I can create two-three hospitals to serve the rural people that
would really satisfy me.”
Dr Roy has been instrumental in conceptualising and implementing
Asia’s biggest telemedicine initiative, ‘Integrated Telemedicine &
Telehealth Project’ (ITTP).
This network not only covers the entire length and breadth of the
Indian subcontinent, but also extends to other countries like Mauritius
and Malaysia. “The seed of telemedicine was sowed when I used to go
for camps in rural places and found that there was an acute need for
strong communications,” he says.
“I was in Kolkata working with the Rabindranath Centre and there
I thought about telemedicine as a bridge between the rural health
centres to the main hospitals in the city, as putting up more hospital
beds and clinics is obviously not the answer,” he adds.
Telemedicine – doctors advising treatment over the video – will help
a general practitioner in a remote area to hook up with an expert
in a more advanced urban centre. The virtual clinic is the only way
out, he says. It is about taking knowledge to people who need it,
adds Roy. The idea is to create knowledge centres.
“Telemedicine has been made possible in the country by the
Government. The Central Government provides satellites connectivity
and State Governments give their hospitals. I feel that public-private
partnership can reform the existing healthcare scenario,” professes
Roy.
He further says there are two major problems in the country: that
is health is either inaccessible or unaffordable. For making it
accessible, Roy says telemedicine is the answer and for making it
affordable only micro-health insurance can help.
Influences In Life
Roy has been greatly influenced by Mother Teresa with whom he
interacted on a daily basis while in Kolkata.
Her compassion and worldly views had an indelible impression on
him. “She was an intelligent lady,” he says. The Father of the Nation
Mahatma Gandhi is his role model. “Here was a man who could have
anything he wanted but he chose to forsake everything,” Roy says
and adds that, “There was a streak of detachment in him that’s very
important for everyone to have if you want to do great things.”
His father, who is also his role model, was democratic in every way
and let his children decide and be whatever they wanted to be. “I
have learnt to be patient and non-judgmental from him,” informs Roy.
Achievements
In physical sense and material gainsterms, the hospitals he built
and the accolades he won could be called his achievements. However,
for Dr Roy it is the people who linked with him and gained from him
made him feel very proud and contented with their achievements. And
he had mentored many a protege in his illustrious career. “There’s an
indescribable pride I feel deep inside me upon seeing their success,”
he says. Incidentally, Dr Roy is the only person to have built 17
hospitals in the country.
Time Off
Roy loves to go to hill stations for vacations with family. He has two
sons; the elder one is studying medicine at Stanley Medical College,
Madras and the younger one is in class 11 in Delhi. His wife works for
spastics children. He says, “My soul is trapped in the hills.” Every
year, for two weeks or so, he goes for trekking in the hills.
He likes to listen to old Hindi songs, but falls asleep after hearing
the first line. He has such busy schedule that he can fall asleep
in a fraction of seconds. “I don’t watch movies and have no clue
about actors or actresses,” says he. Interestingly, he goes for a
morning walk every morning and walks 3.5 kilometers. He also enjoys
horse riding.
Ambitions
Since Roy loves the hills, he feels for the people of the hills and
dreams of building a small 50-bed hospital and training facility
for the people of Uttaranchal. He also harbours another ambition
of bringing skill enhancements into rural health practitioners like
other traditional practitioners and even quacks.
“They consist of a good 50 per cent of the healthcare providers
besides the Homeopathy, Ayurveda etc. And since we can’t wish them
away, it is better to tell them about good and bad practices so they
would be careful while dealing with patients like washing hands,
knowledge of medicines knowledge etc,” says Roy.
“Whenever I visit the hills the resolve gets stronger to do something
for them,” he says assiduously. He is working 24×7 and doesn’t get
tired because as he says, “No one gets a second chance in life so
live every moment to the fullest.” And if given a chance, he would
live the same life all over again.
[email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

THIRD ARMENIA-DIASPORA ALL-ARMENIAN FORUM OPENED IN YEREVAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
18.09.2006 13:59 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ September 18 the Third Armenia-Diaspora All-Armenian
Forum opened in Yerevan.
Political party and foreign Armenian lobbyist organizations
representatives, businessmen, public figures and scientists take part
in the forum. When opening the event Armenian FM Vartan Oskanian
wished success to the meeting participants. RA and NKR Presidents
R. Kocharian and A. Ghoukassian, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin
II and Catholicos of Great House of Cilicia Aram I addressed the Forum.
Working out strategy of Armenia’s development in 21st century will
be a major issue on the forum agenda.
During a plenary session under the slogan New Responses to Old
Questions: Armenians in 21st Century theoretical approaches to culture
and self-consciousness elements, opportunities to use these both
in Armenia and the Diaspora will be discussed. Special attention
will be paid to development of rural areas, targeted assistance to
farmers. The forum will work till September 20.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ACHIEVEMENTS AND LOSSES ACCORDING TO KIRO MANOYAN
A1+
[03:30 pm] 18 September, 2006
“It is a great achievement to have 15 years’ independence for the
last 600 years. And if we have many problems today, we should blame
not the independence, but ourselves”, said, Kiro Manoyan, Executive
of the ARF Dashnaktsutiun Bureau Hay Dat and Political Office.
Mr. Manoyan is convinced that the nation can develop only if there
is a state. Referring to our path for the last 15 years, he said,
“We not only managed to be independent for 15 years, but we also
liberated Karabakh and created the strongest army of the region.
All this was achieved thanks to our unity”.
Mr. Manoyan found it noteworthy that if we have obligatory military
service, we must create an army which will contribute to the
development of the soldiers.
He said that the shortcomings can be overcome only in case there
are not hidden. “Armenia is the homeland of not those who live in
it but all the Armenians in the world. If we do not accept this,
we will continue to suffer losses. We cannot combat corruption,
emigration continues, and there is no justice in the country. All
this jeopardizes the security of the country.”
“I’m convinced that people emigrate as they have no other choice. The
majority has nothing, and the minority has everything at the expense
of the majority. People cannot stand injustice. Nothing will change
in the country if we fail to realize that we are the owners of the
country and everything depends on us”, Kiro Manoyan said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PACE RAPPORTEUR VISITS KARABAKH ONLY
A1+
[04:01 pm] 18 September, 2006
Leo Platvoet, the PACE rapporteur on the issues of missing persons,
starts his regional visit today. The official will visit neither
Armenia, nor Azerbaijan.
On September 18-22 he will be in Nagorno Karabakh and in Abkhazia.
The visit takes place within the framework of the report “Missing
persons in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia”. In Stepanakert and
Sukhumi the rapporteur will meet local officials who engage in the
clarification of the fates of missing persons.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TURKEY NOT TO OPEN BORDER WITH ARMENIA – AZERI TV
ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
17 Sep 06
[Presenter] The local executive authorities of Turkish towns bordering
on Armenia do not have the power to decide weather the border with
Armenia should open or not. The border can open only if the Turkish
government decides to do so. And Ankara is adamant to keep the border
closed, Kars mayor Mehmet Ufuk Erden has said in response to Kars
municipality head Naif Alibeyoglu’s calls for the opening of the
border. Susambar Agamaliyeva, a special ANS correspondent in Kars,
has more.
[Agamaliyeva, by phone] A municipality head does not have the power
to reopen Turkey’s doors to Armenia. He cannot speak on behalf of
the Turkish government, Kars mayor Mehmet Ufuk Erden has told ANS.
Erden said the eastern gate between Turkey and Armenia was opened in
1992. But the Turkish government decided to close it a year later.
Under the current circumstances, the Turkish state is keen to keep
the gate closed, Erden said.
The Kars mayor also said that the International Caucasus Festival
was organized by the Kars municipality, not by the Turkish government.
The festival opened on 15 September and closed today. Azerbaijan
boycotted the festival two days ago.
A delegation from Armenia presented the Azerbaijani dances “Tarakama”
and “Cutcu” and Qara zurna [musical instrument] as Armenian.
The International Caucasus Festival was funded by the non-governmental
Soros Foundation and some other international organizations. The event
was organized by the Anadolu Culture Society and the Kars municipality.
The main goal of the Armenian lobby was to have a resolution adopted
on the reopening of the border at the end of a conference that was
held in parallel. But the conference did not adopt such a resolution.
Turkish society and ordinary Turks are opposed to the Armenian
delegation’s visit and to the opening of the border with Armenia.
They condemn the idea of opening the border.
Susambar Agamaliyeva, reporting from Kars, Turkey.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMINFO News Agency
September 14, 2006 Thursday
FM OF TURKEY FEARS FOR POSSIBLE COLLISIONS BETWEEN ARMENIAN AND
TURKISH COMMUNITIES IN FRANCE DURING CELEBRATION OF “YEAR OF ARMENIA”
THERE
The Foreign Minister of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, fears for the possible
collisions between the Armenian and Turkish communities in France
during the celebration of the “Year of Armenia” there.
As the Turkish “Zanam” newspaper informs, the Turkey’s MFA
participates in the meeting being held in France and devoted to the
intercultural dialogue, which has coincided with the celebration of
the “Year of Armenia” there. Having noted that Turkey ill not
interfere with the relations of France with the third parties, the
Minister said that “notorious Armenian Question” will not harm the
Turkey-France bilateral relations, which have much tightened
recently. During the press-conference in Paris, A. Gul reminded that
over 400,000 Turks live in France and that France and Turkey have to
take preventive measures to avoid the possible collision between the
country’s Armenian and Turkish communities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Source: Arminfo, Yerevan, in Russian
14 Sep 06
ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER READY FOR MEETING WITH AZERI COUNTERPART
Yerevan, 14 September: “The co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group are
seriously discussing the next meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers, but our position is clear – the
meetings should not turn into an end in itself,” Armenian Foreign
Minister Vardan Oskanyan said while answering journalists’ questions
after the presentation of a book entitled “The Nagornyy Karabakh
problem – ways of settlement”.
“We are ready for the meeting at any time, but there is a need for a
favourable atmosphere in order to make progress. Azerbaijan keeps
making efforts to divert the international community’s attention from
the Minsk Group process. This is a fact,” the Armenian foreign
minister said.
“As is known, the United Nations, which earlier refused to put the
GUAM-initiated [Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova] issue of
frozen conflicts on its agenda, changed its decision literally
yesterday. The issue was put on the agenda with a majority of votes.
This is the situation when an attempt is made to divert attention
from the Minsk Group process,” the Armenian foreign minister said,
adding that the meeting between the foreign ministers will be in
question until it is clear in which direction the process develops at
the UN.
According to the minister, although Azerbaijan earlier accepted most
of the provisions of the document proposed by the Minsk Group,
including the referendum, self-determination and others, it is now
trying to “back off”. As a means of achieving this goal, Azerbaijan
has chosen, according to its own calculations, attempts to divert
attention from the Minsk Group process and refer the issue to the UN.
So it is necessary to assess the current situation and only after
that, can we determine our further steps, the Armenian foreign
minister said. The minister also expressed the opinion that according
to the results of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict settlement, there is
no need to change the strategy at the moment.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Asia Pulse
September 14, 2006 Thursday 11:02 AM EST
IRAN TO TRANSFER GAS TO ARMENIA SOON: SPEAKER
Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said on Tuesday that the first
gas pipeline to transfer gas from Iran to Armenia is scheduled to
become operational in the coming months.
A report released by Majlis Media Department said that the speaker
made the remark while speaking to reporters at a joint press
conference with his Armenian counterpart Tigran Torossian.
Addressing reporters, Haddad-Adel said that the progress of the gas
project is supervised by the presidents of Iran and Armenia.
Haddad-Adel said that feasibility studies on the second gas pipeline
is currently underway.
He referred to projects on transfer of energy, development and port
of industrial machinery as strategies aiming to boost trade exchanges
between the two states and urged that tourism and investment by
private sector should also be facilitated.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the speaker said that establishment of
relations with the Central Asian states and Caucasia has been on the
agenda of Iran’s foreign policy over the past 15 years.
“Meanwhile, Iran-Armenia ties have been quite favorable on account of
the good bonds between Iranian Muslims and Armenian minority,” he
said.
Turning to the history of the presence of Armenians in Iran, he said
that they contribute to the construction and development of Iran
along with their Muslim countrymen.
For his part, the chairman of Armenia’s National Assembly pointed to
Iran’s nuclear issue and the relevant developments in the region and
said, “All countries should benefit from equal conditions to access
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. No country should abuse its
facilities to restrict other states.” Torossian stated that the terms
and conditions of international treaties should be implemented
equally for all world countries.
Besides, he referred to Iran-Armenia commonalties and called for
expansion of cooperation between the two states.

Azat Artsakh, NKR
Sept 13 2006
COMPUTERS TO SCHOOLS OF ARTSAKH
Shen NGO has a great contribution to the schools of Artsakh, namely
it provides schools with computers. Karen Aramian, the representative
of Shen to NKR, says about 250 computers were distributed to the
schools of the republic. The aim of the project Computers to NKR
Schools was the use of computers in teaching. A group of programmers
in Armenia is now designing school programs for Armenian schools,
funded by an international foundation supporting modern teaching
methods at schools. The programmers promised to provide the disks to
Shen, which will publish the programs. Besides, this summer some
teachers of chemistry and biology were trained to use these programs
in teaching. There are also programs for informatics and ecology.
This is a useful method, however, the schools already encounter
problems, for computers in some schools are too old, and teachers are
not competent. Karen Aramian is hopeful that the programs will be
provided to all the schools within this academic year. He also said
it will be necessary to replace the old computers with new ones.
However, Karen Aramian says, computers and software is not enough to
solve the problem of schools. The image of teacher is very important.
If the teacher is discontent with his salary, his life, his work
cannot be effective.
S. KHACHATRIAN.
13-09-2006
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress