Reconstructed modern Medical centers of Chambarak and Kapan will be put into operation in autumn.

YEREVAN, AUGUST 25, ARMENPRESS. One of the pre-electoral promises of the Armenian President Serj Sargsyan was to reconstruct Chambarak Health Center, which will be put into operation in October 2015, after completion of the works. Till the end of this year the newly constructed Meghri Regional Medical Center will open its doors as well, which is the second newly built hospital since the independence of the Republic of Armenia. About the mentioned and the new developments in the sphere of healthcare were announced and told by the director of "Health Project Implementation Unit" of the Ministry of Health, Nelson Zuloyan.

-Mr. Zuloyan, the construction works of new medical ambulatory of Byurakan community were launched two days ago. In what progress are the civil works of other healthcare centers in the area of the Republic and which new facilities will open their doors to the public this year?

- The newly reconstructed Kapan Medical Center with its 115 beds and Chambarak health center with its 30 beds will be put into operation in October. Newly constructed Meghri Regional Medical Center with 45 beds will start its work by the end of the year. Moreover, it is planned to complete the construction of the Yerevan Hematology Center by July-August 2016. In this new center will be located the first regional Bone Marrow Transplantation service for both children and adults. Also it is planned to implement the civil works of Sevan and Artashat Medical Centers and the architectural design works are already in progress. At this moment, Vayots Dzor is the only marz, where there are no investments in the secondary (hospital) sector. Nevertheless, we have developed a new project which we are planning to present to the approval of the World Bank.

-The mass screenings of the population within the scope of the Disease Prevention and Control project were launched in January 2015 by the Ministry, the main purpose of which is to detect and control the cases of hypertension, diabetes mellitus and cervical cancer among the risk groups of the population. What results were recorded during this period?

- 300 thousand diagnostic tests have already been done in the scope of the screening project. Among the individuals of the age group of 35-68, 143 thousand citizens’ were screened to detect the hypertension, also and the level of glucose in the blood was measured in about 98 thousand citizens. During the same period of time, about 19500 (30-60 years old) women participated in the cervical cancer prevention screening (PAP test). During July, 5605 PAP tests, hypertension detection screenings were done among about 17 thousand citizens, and the glucose level was measured in about 15120 citizens. According to preliminary data, deviation from the norm was recorded among 7% of the individuals who took the PAP test. It doesn’t mean that it is cancer. Those women were referred to the specialist and pre-cancer condition was detected in only 1% of cases. The cervical cancer is one of the cancers when it is possible to treat with 100% effectiveness in case of detection in the early stages. Deviations from norm were detected in 9% of the individuals who were investigated for diabetes mellitus and in 12.5% of the individuals who were investigated for hypertension. I would like to mention that, simultaneously, public awareness campaign is being implemented in Yerevan and marzes by the mass media.

-Mr. Zuloyan, it is greatly discussed the problem of the protection of the patients from the medical errors, especially after a number of recent unfortunate incidents. How do you assess, to what extent the mentioned field is regulated and whether the rights of the patients and the doctors are protected?

-In my opinion, the legislative field, in this respect, is insufficient and our patients and doctors are not totally protected. Also, of course, some steps are being taken in the direction of development of legislative regulations. However, I would like to draw the public attention to the unreasonable charges and discrediting attempts directed to the doctors’ and healthcare sphere in general. We have a plenty of faithful doctors who are implementing their duties by their everyday hard work. It is necessary to recover the connection between the healthcare system and the public, and the role of media is axial in this process. My suggestion is to organize informative visits for the media representatives to present the medical workers’ routine activities in place, in the modernized medical centers which meet the modern criteria. For the problem solution it is necessary to put medical criteria and treatment definite guidelines in all healthcare sectors. The development and acceptance of such standards needs intensive work and is expensive and the implementation will take a lot of time. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Health of RA undertook step by step development process of medical criteria. The National institute of Health MoH of RA initiated the development and investment process of medical standards since 2012. There are specialties in the RA which are sufficiently formatted.

Interviewer Syune Barseghyan