President held a consultation with the leadership of the Ministry of Health

President Serzh Sargsyan today visited the Ministry of Health. The President of Armenia toured a number of structural units of the Ministry staff, including the Division of Pharmaceutical Activities Organization, Medicine and Technology Supply, the Department of Mother and Child Health Protection and the Division of Emergency First Aid Policy. Sarah Sargsyan familiarized with working conditions, talked to employees about their functions, projects being implemented and existing problems, inquired about the results of the single-window system introduced jointly with the State Revenue Committee in order to make the process of medicine import more transparent and easier. After finishing the tour, the President of Armenia held a consultation with the leadership of the Ministry.

The Minister of Health, the Deputy Ministers and the Head of Staff reported on the works implemented in specific fields under their supervision, the existing problems, the measures taken to deal with those problems, as well as on the forthcoming projects.

The RA Minister of Health Derenik Dumanyan presented the main results of the 2012-2014 activities of the Ministry. Apart from talking about the achievements and the reforms implemented in health service system, the Minister also touched upon the existing problems, the measures taken to deal with those problems, in particular stressing the importance of the works directed to the quality of medical aid, ensuring accessibility and the supervision of corruption risks. In his report Derenik Dumanyan also presented the works being implemented in order to raise the effectiveness of public management in the field of medicine circulation.

The Deputy Minister Sergey Khachatryan's report touched the issues of mother and child health protection, the results obtained in that sphere and the future projects.

The Deputy Minister Tigran Sahakyan introduced the issues of human resource management and the sphere of certification in health service system, touched upon the disproportionate distribution of human resources and the other issues existing in the field, as well as the possible solutions to those issues.

The other Deputy Minister Arman Babloyan’s report embraced the issues of proportionate development of Marz health service system and the projects directed to overcoming those issues in the framework of international cooperation, as well as the forthcoming works.

The Head of Staff of the Ministry Suren Qrmoyan presenting the organizational structure of the Ministry and the saturation level of human resources reported on the works regarding the human resources and the current management, as well as the steps being taken to raise the effectiveness of the personnel management activities.

The President gave questions to the speakers about separate issues touched in the reports, presented his observations and remarks and gave relevant instructions to the staff in charge.

The President stressed the importance of the consistent work directed to the continual retraining of medical personnel and the improvement of specialists' qualification considering the modern approaches existing in the world, the achievements and the progress.

Touching upon the issue of the existence of substantial number of vacancies mentioned by the Head of Staff, the President considered incomprehensible and inacceptable the works of the Ministry’s staff in charge for not recruiting those vacancies as soon as possible and not informing unemployed qualified professionals about the vacancies widely and in the due manner. “I think that the Ministry of Health has a peculiarity because doctors first of all always want to work in their profession, want to engage in practical medicine, rather than look for work at other structures. You should always find the people who possess knowledge and are ready to serve in their profession,” said President Serzh Sargsyan.

In his remarks Serzh Sargsyan touched upon the works accomplished by the Ministry within the accounting period, the forthcoming problems, the top-priority directions of the activities and the policy carried out by that government body in the relevant sphere. “I wish all of you success in your hard, responsible and gratifying labor hoping that that honorable work is occupied by the people who have a desire, because having mere knowledge is not a sufficient, but a necessary condition. Moreover, one should have a desire to serve the work for which he has chosen that work,” said President Serzh Sargysan wishing successes and expressing hope that every time summing up the results of activities, new achievements will be touched upon, positive new results will be obtained at work and urged not to be afraid to mentioned also those issues or to bring out the regress in those issues on which the efforts should be concentrated in order to succeed henceforth.

The President of Armenia also answered the questions of the participants of the consultation related to the social problems of health service system employers, the continual work directed to the proportionate development of Marz health service system, the foreign policy of our country and a number of other issues. Particularly, answering the question on what he thinks about the decree of the Swiss Government on appealing the 17 December 2013 verdict of the European Court on the case of so called “Perinçek versus Switzerland” Serzh Sargsyan underscored, “I think it is excellent and inspiring. All of us should express our positive attitude to the decree adopted by the Swiss Government. Everybody knows that Switzerland has always been one of the active protectors of human rights in the international arena, one of the most active Governments in the struggle against racial discrimination attitude, one of the most active Governments in the struggle against the structures sowing xenophobia, the people and the phenomenon in general and we expected Switzerland to make a positive and right decision regarding this issue as well which we witnessed. That decision was expected and anticipated. Of course, the role of the Swiss authorities in making that decision is immense. The Swiss Government issued the decree by itself but here we should assess the contribution of the Swiss Government and different people or their attitude toward the verdict of the European Court, their appeal to the Swiss Government, the engagement of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, different individuals and various structures.

The decree of the Swiss Government is only a start of a big process because the European Court of Human Rights should still make a decision on bringing the case to its proceeding to investigate in essence. However, we are sure that the European Court of Human Rights will make such a decision which will not insult the people surviving in genocide and will not revile the memory of the millions of people who just became innocent victims. However, any activities need vigor and struggle and I am sure that the Swiss Government will pursue its own decision. It is clear why that issue is important for us. On the other hand, the question is that the European Court to some extent finds a drawback in the sphere administering justice in Switzerland. However, all of us know that Switzerland is a country which has passed a great path and professes high values. Thus, the Swiss should also prove by themselves the integrity of their judicial system and the entire government system in general.”

At the end of the consultation, a group of employees of the Ministry were awarded encouragements for their conscientious and effective work: the Head of the Division of Mother and Reproductive Health Protection of the Department of Mother and Child Health Protection Gayane Avagyan, the Head of Secretariat Zaruhi Darbinyan, the Chief Specialist of the Department of Personnel Management Rosa Eritsyan, the Chief Specialist of the Division of Hospital Medical Aid Policy of the Department of Medical Aid Policy Tamara Ghukasyan were awarded Letters of Commendation.