“The patients using the services of obstetrics and maternity department of Vanadzor hospital were complaining about the quality of services,” Said Narine Khachatryan, the “Elimination of Corruption in the Health Sector and promoting the Necessary Steps” Project Manager at the presentation of the project results.

The Project Manager said that during the survey which was carried out during the grant period around 300 medical personnel and patient were questioned.

The survey was implemented by the Club of Journalists “Selen” NGO in cooperation with “Loru MIG” LLC.

According to the results of the survey, the medical staff turns to corruption due to the low salaries. “The state does much to eliminate corruption risks from the sphere and undertakes obligations. So we decided to start the survey just from here. During the project we cooperated with mass media, to make the public voice heard,” Mrs. Khachatryan said.

Mrs. Khachatryan said that discontent is mutual: the citizens are dissatisfied with the medical personnel, while the latter are displeased from the attitude. In fact the medical staff themselves recognized that corruption occurs because of the low salary. As a result of the survey, 80 respondents from 100 have seen the problem in this fact.

Narine Khachatryan stressed that the survey has shown that the people are unaware of their rights, and it is also a serious problem.

This grant has been provided in the framework of “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” project implemented by the Armenian Young Lawyers Association in cooperation with its partner Freedom of Information Center co-funded by the EU and OSCE Yerevan Office.

Mr. Karen Zadoyan, “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” Project Manger spoke about the AYLA activities. He referred to the fight against corruption and spoke about the activities of the Anti-Corruption Coalition as well. The AYLA President mentioned that a number of NGOs from the regions have been provided grants in the framework of “Multi-Faceted Anti-Corruption Promotion” project. “This is not the only project. We have cooperated on many projects. We believe that the cooperation of the State and Civil Society will always be effective if it is based on partnership relations. This fact is proven by our experience of cooperation.”

Mr. Artur Nalbandyan, the Governor of Lori marz attended the presentation as well. He stressed the importance of conducting such survey and said, “We do hear a lot of positive and negative opinions. However it is often difficult to follow the opinions and make revelations. In this regard, we welcomed the initiative of the NGO. The studies are of interest to us, afterwards we shall make conclusions about our future plans,” Mr. Nalbandyan said.

During the event, participants watched a video, learned the issues raised and discussed the introduced proposals. The Head of the medical establishment and doctors attended the presentation as well.

Iravaban.net