ArmInfo. On March 2, the NA Standing Committee on Health Care and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia held discussions on the merger of the "Republican Center for AIDS Prevention" and the "NORK Infection Clinical Hospital".
To recall, the corresponding government decision was made on January 30.
Meanwhile, the Center is categorically against the merger, noting that this decision poses a threat to national security, nullifying the many years of efforts to combat HIV / AIDS.
As noted in her speech General Secretary of the RA Ministry of Healthcare Lusine Kocharyan, as a result of the planned merger, HIV patients will only benefit. She drew attention to the fact that their inpatient treatment of opportunistic infections was always carried out in Mink.
In addition, the hospital plans to improve laboratory resources, and earlier design and calculation work was carried out in order to repair and re-equip this medical facility. Kocharyan also noted that the Center is equipped with modern laboratory equipment, which after the merger will be able to access patients with diseases such as, for example, hepatitis C.
At the same time, she assured that the merger of the Center and the hospital would not affect the property and employees of these institutions. According to her, it is about introducing a centralized management system, and it will take approximately 5 months to complete the merger process itself. Kocharyan noted that the corresponding draft decision on the merger of the Center and the hospital was positively evaluated by all donor organizations. Meanwhile, as was noted, the Center takes a categorical position on this issue, and does not comply with the written instructions of the ministry.
Kocharyan also dispelled fears of patients with HIV-positive status, noting that they would not receive appropriate treatment at local clinics after the merger. As Anahit Harutyunyan, head of the "Positive People Armenian Network" NGO, noted earlier, this prospect was worried about this prospect because of fears of a lack of tolerance towards them and their relatives in primary care facilities. Meanwhile, as it turned out, a number of Center employees in protest against the merger with Mink wrote letters of resignation. As the former head of the epidemiological surveillance department of the Center Arshak Papoyan stated, there are a number of obvious inaccuracies in substantiating the government decision. So, he drew attention to the fact that every year in the Center about 700-800 people receive preventive treatment to prevent the development of opportunistic infections. As regards the fact that HIV / AIDS patients seek treatment at Nork, in fact, as Papoyan noted, in addition to Nork, the treatment is provided, in particular, by the Hematology Center and the National Oncology Center. Meanwhile, this circumstance did not lead to their merger with the AIDS Prevention Center.
The expert also drew attention to the fact that 400-500 new cases of HIV are detected annually in Armenia, and therefore it would be more advisable not to weaken the Center through a merger, but rather to increase its capacity. Arshak Asmaryan, the former head of the Center's medical care and services department, has a similar opinion, noting that to strengthen preventive measures it would be enough to go not by merging, but to introduce an HIV test in all medical institutions as a routine laboratory test method. To recall, earlier Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan commented on the decision to merge the Center and the Nork hospital, promising that this decision would not entail a staff reduction. According to him, scientific achievements and modern international approaches in the fight against AIDS indicate that this issue should be integrated into the national health system. As was noted, the need for separate institutions dealing with the problem of AIDS existed about 40 years ago, when the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was only detected.