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.