Armenia plans more funding for Psychiatry

YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. The Healthcare Ministry plans to include more funding for psychiatry in next year’s state budget, Minister Arsen Torosyan told a press conference today.

Torosyan was speaking at a news conference dedicated to his 1st year in office as minister, and he even chose the Nubarashen National Center of Mental Health Preservation as the venue for the briefing, emphasizing its importance.

“We’ve decided to organize our event in different medical facilities regularly. The National Center for Preservation of Mental Health is one of our largest psychiatry clinics, where hundreds of citizens are receiving treatment and care,” he said.

Speaking about the sector’s funding, Torosyan said starting from 2018 the healthcare ministry has allocated additional funds for psychiatry clinics, which enabled a certain improvement of technical conditions.

“We are joining the No Health Without Mental Health worldwide call and we are heading towards the development of community mental health, conceptually-wise enabling patients to receive treatment in their own community, not isolated,” he said.

Torosyan didn’t rule out the possible existence of corruption in the sector, but emphasized that authorities are doing their best to eradicate it.

“We are combating corruption through prevention, introduction of systems and accountability,” he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan