This year Yerevan Municipality has initiated a number of structural changes in the sphere of health care. By the decision of the Council of Elders made in May, 7 policlinics has been reorganized. The aim is to increase the quality of services, to introduce new ones and to provide financial recovery.
Yerevan Deputy Mayor Gevorg Simonyan gave some explanations to the issues of residents’ concern during the press conference invited at “Armenpress”. He informed that the residents would not have to change their ambulatories they are accustomed to. No redundancy is planned in the policlinics, all employees will keep their positions. The Municipality also intends to discuss the tariffs of salaries of medical workers with the Ministry of Health.
The Deputy Mayor also comment on the recent dismiss of the director of one of the policlinics. According Gevorg Simonyan, the same person shouldn’t stay on the same managing position for long as it causes a number of objective negative consequences. That is why the mentioned person was offered another job which he rejected.
The Deputy Mayor also claimed that all decisions will be made transparent and public will be informed about future status of the buildings in which the reorganized ambulatories used to be located. The improvements to be made in the sphere are to be noticeable judging from the premises and facilities. Policlinics of Avan and Nork Marash will be overhauled. 5 more ones will be reconstructed next year. Another serious problem is out-of-date equipment.
According to the Deputy Mayor, this year Yerevan Municipality disbursed 230 million drams for procurement of medical equipment and appliances. 8 new X-ray apparatuses and 8 ultra-sound devices will be purchased by the end of the year. Thus, proper diagnostics will be ensured.
The process of digitalization of medical cards and forms has started in policlinics to reduce queues. The policlinics are also ready to start working on charging to accounts since July 1.
Gevorg Simonyan stated that the investment into the city health sphere is really unprecedented. The city authorities set a task to recover the trust of townspeople in policlinics which has significantly decreased in parallel with opening private medical centres. The modernized and re-equipped ambulatories will relieve the burden of large medical centres and will become competitive as well.