Clinic staff to work weekends in Armenia

Armenia’s Minister of Health, Arsen Torosyan, addressed the nation this week asking whether there is a need for small clinics and their medical staff to work on the weekends or not. The minister posted the question on his Facebook page:

“What if we introduced having a doctor and a nurse on duty at polyclinics on weekends?”

User opinions were divided on the issue:

“I do not see such a need. If it’s chronic illness, then it can wait until Monday, if not, there are ambulances and hospitals.”

“If the staff gets a raise for this, it’s worth it. If not, then do not do this otherwise the workload of doctors increases but the salary remains the same.”

“Of course it is a good idea. But first you need to improve the quality of services in polyclinics in general.”

This is not the minister’s first proposal. Torosyan shared his concerns about countering corruption and injustice in the medical sphere when he took office:

“There is unfair distribution of money for hospitals in Armenia. While Sisian medical centre receives 2.5 million drams (about USD 5 000) from the state budget, another hospital in Yerevan gets 5 billion drams.”

As a result, inspections began into hospitals and clinics in Armenia.

Torosyan also addressed another issue. He upheld the decision made by the previous government to sell certain medication per prescription only. However, according to him, the Ministry is going to finalize the provisions of the law. As a result, the decision to sell some drugs per prescription was postponed for a year.