Monday, January 13 2020 18:59

ArmInfo. On January 13, a protest rally against the closure of a local maternity hospital was held in the city of Yeghvard (Kotayk region). It was attended by both employees of the medical institution and local residents.

Protesters noted that good specialists are working in the maternity  hospital, and with their efforts they managed to increase the annual  birth rates. So, in 2019, 136 births were accepted, however,  according to the new system of the Ministry of Healthcare, their  number should be at least 150 in order to receive state funding. In  addition, the hospital staff voiced their concern about the prospect  of losing their jobs.

The Ombudsman promised to deal with the situation by sending  appropriate requests to the Ministry of Healthcare and the regional  administration. 

To recall, last week a protest rally was held against the closure of  the maternity hospital in the Maralik community (Shirak region).

Earlier, RA Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan informed that in  mid-2018, it was decided to revise the list of medical institutions  providing obstetric care services. According to him, this was due to  the fact that earlier the corresponding categories (I, II and III)  were awarded by orders of the minister, and sometimes these decisions  were really unfounded. As explained by Torosyan, the size of state  funding depends on the category of the hospital.

The focus of the Ministry of Healthcare was the state of buildings  and premises of these medical facilities, technical equipment,  staffing, as well as their level of training. An important role was  also played by the number of births accepted on an annual basis (the  minimum indicator is 150), as well as the factor of the distance of a  particular medical institution from the hospital, which provides a  wider range of medical services. If the distance is about 15-20 km,  then a decision is made to close this medical facility.