ArmInfo.The Office of the Ombudsman of Armenia is investigating the circumstances of the dismissal of 80 employees of the Nork branch of the National Center for Infectious Diseases CJSC of the RA Ministry of Health.
Thus, according to the report of the office of the RA Ombudsman, the RA Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan sent inquiries to the RA Ministry of Health, as well as to the inspection body of the Ministry of Health and Labor.
"In a public complaint presented to the media on January 10, the doctors stated that they were notified orally of the dismissal on December 30, 2021 and were not notified of the reasons for the dismissal. Moreover, they were informed that there would be no a final payment. Then, according to the complaints, the employees were told to write a resignation letter by January 15, 2022," the RA Ministry of Health said in a statement. It is also added that taking into account the explanation of the Ministry of Health on this matter, the Ombudsman sent additional questions in order to ensure the labor rights of medical workers.
On January 10, a group of employees of the Nork Infectious Disease Center held a protest action in Yerevan, demanding to clarify the situation with their dismissal. Meanwhile, the deputy director of the Center Ashot Sargsyan stated that he did not know anything about the decision to dismiss the employees of the branch. According to him, the Ministry of Health and the leadership of the Center are discussing the opening of an infectious diseases department in another hospital and the transfer of some of the employees there. "The building will be redesigned, after which it will be possible to return to normal work," he said, without specifying what awaits the other part of the employees. Later, the hospital management promised to employ all employees of the Center. Experts called the message about the closure of the branch of the Infection Center as absurd when the coronavirus is raging in the country.