ARMENIAN ASSOCIATION OF FAMILY DOCTORS PROPOSES TO ENSURE BY
LEGISLATION INSTITUTION OF FAMILY DOCTOR IN ARMENIA

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 19 2006

YEREVAN, October 19. /ARKA/. On Thursday at the second clinical
conference on Modern Issues of Family Medicine Chairman of the Armenian
Association of Family Doctors Samvel Hovhannisyan told journalists
that the Armenian Association of Family Doctors proposed to ensure
by legislation the institution of family doctors in the country.

"We propose either to include a special chapter about the family
doctors in the Law On Healthcare, being discussed today, or adopt a
separate Law On Family Medicine, particularly for regulation of such
issues as organization and financing of the system of family medicine",
Hovhannisyan said.

Speaking of nowadays issues of the family medicine development in
Armenia, Hovhannisyan emphasized that there existed problems of
introduction of that institution in cities.

He said that in villages those functions had always been performed
by district doctors.

"However there is a great outpatient system with great staff of narrow
specialists and district doctors in cities, and those functions should
be divided", Hovhannisyan said.

He pointed out that at present the population of the republic was
passive in the selection of a family doctor, nevertheless expressing
belief that in January 2007, people would turn to services of family
medicine more actively.

He informed journalists that this year the government had adopted
an order, determining mechanisms of free selection of doctors by the
population. S.P.–0–