ARMENIA BRINGS MEDICAL SERVICES TO SHEPHERDS AND FAMILIES IN HIGHLANDS

Reuters, UK
June 20 2006

Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)

Previous | Next 11-year-old Serine with MOT doctor in
front of the World Vision medical truck World Vision MEERO,
For the first time, doctors visited
shepherds and their families in the pastures of Armenia’s northern
Lori region thanks to World Vision Medical Outreach Teams (MOT)
project and local polyclinic doctors.

A fully equipped truck with a medical team – general doctor, laboratory
technician, gynaecologist, and paediatrician – drove through almost
impassable mountain paths to provide important primary healthcare to
the highland families.

‘During the summer months, people in the pastures are too far from
villages and health posts, so they can’t see doctors for months. Our
goal is to take doctors close to them,’ explains Marat Manoukian,
Lori ADP Health Coordinator.

Animal breeding is the main source of income for many rural populations
in Lori. The shepherds take the cows or sheep to far-off mountains with
rich pastures and live with their families in small temporary dwellings
usually made of old wooden panels or rusted plates. Staying for far
away from their native villages, for four to five months, they suffer
many hardships such as no access to even the simplest health services.

‘This is the only way for me to earn a living for my family nowadays:
in winters I have no work to do,’ confesses Mukuchyan Saro from Odzun
village, a specialist in the energy industry who has worked as a
shepherd for the last four years.

[lquotbebox]I’m happy that my children will be examined by specialists:
the conditions here are far from being ideal for children, so I
constantly worry about their health[/lquotebox]In summer, Saro stays
in a pasture of Garakhach mountain with three other shepherds, milking
some 80 cows a day. This backbreaking work caused him severe pain
in his arms. After a medical examination, MOT doctors found certain
problems with his joints, prescribed medicines and referred him for
future treatment to the local polyclinic.

‘I’m happy that my children will be examined by specialists: the
conditions here are far from being ideal for children, so I constantly
worry about their health,’ said a surprised Shushan Sargsyan, mother
to 11-year-old Serine and 13-year-old Sargis. Serine helps her mother
with cooking and washing dishes, while her brother helps the men to
tend the herd.

Seventy-five-year-old Mhoyan Syomka helps his younger counterparts
look after the herds. He is short of breath and speaks with
difficulty. Syomka says it’s the first time he has been examined by
a physician in his life: ‘If it were not World Vision, I would never
see a doctor.’

The doctors concluded that Syomka’s condition is quite serious and
decided to hospitalize him.

‘Ultimately, World Vision’s assistance contributes to the expanded
role of local health care providers and strengthens the community-based
health system,’ said Robert Dilbaryan, Head of Lori Health Department,
commenting that the regular monthly visits of MOTs serve as a basis
for the Health Ministry to develop new regulations, to ensure health
services are made available to rural population at least once a month.

World Vision’s MOT project funded by USAID started in Lori in
July 2004. MOT team regularly visits remote and needy communities,
and provides free medical services that include laboratory tests,
ultrasound examinations and referrals to district doctors.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress