WORLD VISION ARMENIA PROVIDES ESSENTIAL MEDICAL EQUIPMENT TO HOSPITALS IN REMOTE REGIONS
Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)

Reuters, UK
April 3 2006

Medical equipment and supplies recently donated by World Vision to
six district hospitals in Armenia are helping to improve the quality
of healthcare services in remote regions.

An infant warmer, as well as an infant suction pump were delivered
last week to Ijevan hospital in north-eastern Armenia, which urgently
needed to improve the services of the maternity ward.

These activities are part of the USAID-funded Mobile Outreach Teams
(MOT) project aimed at increasing access to medical care for people
in remote areas.

An infant warmer, as well as an infant suction pump were delivered
last week to Ijevan hospital in north-eastern Armenia, which urgently
needed to improve the services of the maternity ward.

These activities are part of the USAID-funded Mobile Outreach Teams
(MOT) project aimed at increasing access to medical care for people
in remote areas.

Currently, many district hospitals in Armenia fail to provide necessary
services to the patients because of lack of medical equipment and
poor facilities, as a result of insufficient funding.

‘Every month 30 to 40 children are born at the hospital. Because of
the lack of heating we could not maintain required temperature at the
maternity ward and had to use bottles with hot water in order to keep
the newborn babies warm,’ says Armine Dovlatbekyan, the post-natal
care doctor.

The infant warmer radiates heat and is designed to minimize heat loss
in newborns.

‘Thanks to World Vision, we now are able to ensure adequate and secure
environment for newborns. The warmer also allows to provide necessary
therapy for children with infant jaundice or premature children,’
says Narine Tumanyan, Deputy Head of the hospital. In the past,
children in need of special care often had to be taken to a hospital
in Yerevan, the capital.

In the scope of the MOT project, district hospitals in Kapan, Goris,
Noyemberyan and Chambarak received surgical instrument kits, medical
devices, reagents and other equipment.

World Vision donated a computer and delivered 40 sets of mattresses,
pillows and bedding to Tashir hospital in Lori region. According to
the hospital authorities, during the last 25 years the hospital did
not receive such items and patients had to bring their own mattresses
and bed sheets.

World Vision’s Mobile Outreach Teams regularly provide primary health
services to 45,000 people in 99 remote villages, including laboratory
tests, ultrasound examinations and referrals to district doctors.

Over the past year, World Vision carried out the renovation of 19
rural health posts and 8 district hospitals. In addition, 29 health
posts were furnished and provided with medical supplies and equipment.

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and
not of Reuters. ]