The medical staff of the hospital in Maralik town of Armenia’s Shirak Province is holding a protest Tuesday.

According to nurse Anna Ayvazyan, after COVID-19 was detected in more than 20 employees of the hospital, some of them were sent to an infectious disease hospital, and the hospital management had called on the rest to self-isolate.

"We had to self-isolate," she said. “But now the management says that we shall get a salary based on a bulletin; this means that we will receive 80% of the amount due. (…). We want the Minister of Health to issue a message and clarify how legal all this is.”

Lab assistant Armine Ayvazyan, in her turn, added that at the very beginning of the pandemic, the medical staff was not provided with protective equipment, including gloves.

Anahit Hakobyan, an ambulance staff, said that the real increase in the salaries of medical workers from the promised 30 percent increase was only 20 percent.

And Vram Melikyan, former acting director of the hospital, stated that he had been asked to temporarily ensure the hospital’s activities so that the local population would not suffer.