ICRC helps upgrade medical station in remote Armenian community

The medical post built in 1990 in the Khachik community of Vayots Dzor has been renovated and equipped with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and now provides quality emergency medical care not only to the residents of Khachik.

Vahe Nersisyan, head of the “Khachik” Primary Medical Station (PMS) of the “Areni” Primary Health Center, who has worked at the facility since its establishment, noted that upgrading and renovating the medical post had become an urgent necessity.

“Our PMS building is a standard design building, constructed during the Soviet period. No major renovation work had been carried out here since its establishment. When ICRC staff visited our community, we discussed the problems together and decided to find solutions to them. Our village is quite far from the nearest medical center, so the idea arose to upgrade our facility and create all the necessary conditions so that in the event of disasters, in wartime, as well as in peacetime, we could provide quality medical care both to residents and to servicemen of the military unit located near the village,” Nersisyan said.

He added that they can provide initial emergency care for all cases on site, for which they have the necessary means, as well as continuously replenished medicines and supplies.

“Patient visits remain at the same level because our medical post was quite active even before the renovation. In the event of an ambulance call, the vehicle from Yeghegnadzor reaches our community in about an hour at best. It is very important that during that period we can help the injured person and keep them in a stable condition so that there is no deterioration until the ambulance arrives,” Nersisyan said.

He recalled that during the 44-day war in 2020, service in the direction of the border community of Khachik had been reinforced, and militia and Yerkrapah forces had also been concentrated there, consequently creating a need to fully provide medical care to the troops.

“We joined forces with the medical personnel of the military unit. Of course, no large-scale military operations took place in our direction, but in any case, we were ready to provide emergency medical services. During the events that took place in Jermuk in 2022, the staff was also mobilized, but there were no shots fired in the direction of Khachik,” Nersisyan said.

Zara Amatuni, ICRC Armenia Communications and Prevention Manager, noted that over the past three to four years, the latest programs related to emergency medical care have been directly connected to the consequences of the escalation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in 2022.

“When developing programs concerning border settlements, the ICRC realized that there was a need to establish emergency medical care facilities, departments or posts in this direction. It is about saving people’s lives in emergency situations, during military operations or under other circumstances. Every minute is very important in such cases. Before the launch of the program, there was naturally a shortage of such facilities, because transporting any serviceman or civilian from Khachik to specialized medical centers in Yerevan took considerable time, causing undesirable consequences,” Amatuni said.

According to her, the ICRC has already equipped and upgraded emergency medical care departments at operating community healthcare facilities in the Vayots Dzor, Syunik and Gegharkunik provinces. Such work has been carried out in Vayk, Jermuk, Kapan and Vardenis.

“During the same period, our teams trained the medical personnel of the aforementioned facilities, involving specialists. In rural communities, we also studied the lack of opportunities for such medical care, and therefore, in a number of communities, together with local authorities, we helped establish medical-midwifery posts. In settlements such as Khachik, Kornidzor, Artavan and other similar communities, where medical-midwifery posts operate, they have the capacity to provide emergency medical care services. The importance of such facilities and the work of the professional staff working there are invaluable for the rural population,” Amatuni said.

She added that with the availability of such medical posts, people will no longer have to travel considerable distances to receive emergency primary medical care.