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Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #679
March 8 2013
Maternity Care in Armenia is Postcode Lottery
>From March, women will have to pay if they want to have their babies
in the better-provided capital.
By Arpi Harutyunyan - Caucasus
CRS Issue 679, 8 Mar 13
Women in Armenia are alarmed by new rules that deny them access to
free maternity services in the capital Yerevan if they happen to come
from anywhere else.
Many expectant mothers opt to have their babies in the capital as they
do not have much faith in local health provision.
>From March, they can still do so, but they must pay private-sector
charges in the state hospitals. Only registered residents of Yerevan
will be given free birth care there.
The decision stems from a health ministry meeting in November, where
minister Derenik Dumanyan discussed the nationwide situation with
provincial health chiefs.
`Henceforth, obstetric services will be provided on a regional basis,
meaning that a woman giving birth can choose the institution... solely
based on her place of residence,' Dumanyan said at a press conference
afterwards. `A resident of a [particular] region will give birth in
that region, and a resident of Yerevan will give birth in Yerevan.'
Ministry officials say the decision was taken to prevent too many
women coming to the capital to give birth, thus overburdening
maternity services there and skewing expenditure. Official statistics
indicate that nearly two-thirds of all births in Armenia last year
were in Yerevan, even though the city accounts for one-third of the
country's population.
`Thanks to these measures, we can make sure that the funds the state
assigns for medical care reach the places they're intended for,'
Karine Saribekyan, head of the mother and child department at the
health ministry, said.
Pregnant women like Armine Asatryan are horrified. Now expecting her
third child, Asatryan has lived in Yerevan for the last ten years, but
will be barred from free maternity care in the city because she is
still formally registered as a resident of Gegharkunik region.
`There's a high level of infant mortality in the regions. Apart from
that, you can't have all the tests done in regional hospitals,' she
said. `They need to raise all the hospitals to the standard of those
in Yerevan, and only then reform the system.'
With her only other choice being to go back to her home region to have
the baby, she has decided to pay the fees at a Yerevan hospital.
Ara Babloyan, who chairs the parliamentary committee on health
commission, says it is no longer true that hospitals outside Yerevan
are worse, as the government has made major investments in improving
them.
`Localising the obstetric care system will save people extra costs. We
are doing this so that people don't come to Yerevan and spend money
for nothing,' he said. `A few years ago, we didn't have regional birth
centres with modern equipment, so we can understand why people
preferred to seek more professional treatment. But now we need to make
sure that births take place at the local hospitals, since we have all
the equipment and specialists that are needed.'
Armenia currently 62 maternity units, 11 of them in Yerevan. Under
reforms adopted in 2009-10, medical centres in Ijevan, Hrazdan,
Armavir, Ararat, Ashtarak and Goris were given new equipment. The same
reforms also provided pay increases to encourage medical staff not to
move to the capital.
Some of the pregnant women contacted by IWPR expressed little faith in
the reforms, since the doctors in local hospitals remained the same as
before.
`If there were qualified specialists in the regions, then believe me,
not a single pregnant woman would go to give birth in Yerevan,' said
one expectant mother.
Arpi Harutyunyan is a reporter for Armnews television in Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/maternity-care-armenia-postcode-lottery
IWPR Caucasus Reporting #679
March 8 2013
Maternity Care in Armenia is Postcode Lottery
>From March, women will have to pay if they want to have their babies
in the better-provided capital.
By Arpi Harutyunyan - Caucasus
CRS Issue 679, 8 Mar 13
Women in Armenia are alarmed by new rules that deny them access to
free maternity services in the capital Yerevan if they happen to come
from anywhere else.
Many expectant mothers opt to have their babies in the capital as they
do not have much faith in local health provision.
>From March, they can still do so, but they must pay private-sector
charges in the state hospitals. Only registered residents of Yerevan
will be given free birth care there.
The decision stems from a health ministry meeting in November, where
minister Derenik Dumanyan discussed the nationwide situation with
provincial health chiefs.
`Henceforth, obstetric services will be provided on a regional basis,
meaning that a woman giving birth can choose the institution... solely
based on her place of residence,' Dumanyan said at a press conference
afterwards. `A resident of a [particular] region will give birth in
that region, and a resident of Yerevan will give birth in Yerevan.'
Ministry officials say the decision was taken to prevent too many
women coming to the capital to give birth, thus overburdening
maternity services there and skewing expenditure. Official statistics
indicate that nearly two-thirds of all births in Armenia last year
were in Yerevan, even though the city accounts for one-third of the
country's population.
`Thanks to these measures, we can make sure that the funds the state
assigns for medical care reach the places they're intended for,'
Karine Saribekyan, head of the mother and child department at the
health ministry, said.
Pregnant women like Armine Asatryan are horrified. Now expecting her
third child, Asatryan has lived in Yerevan for the last ten years, but
will be barred from free maternity care in the city because she is
still formally registered as a resident of Gegharkunik region.
`There's a high level of infant mortality in the regions. Apart from
that, you can't have all the tests done in regional hospitals,' she
said. `They need to raise all the hospitals to the standard of those
in Yerevan, and only then reform the system.'
With her only other choice being to go back to her home region to have
the baby, she has decided to pay the fees at a Yerevan hospital.
Ara Babloyan, who chairs the parliamentary committee on health
commission, says it is no longer true that hospitals outside Yerevan
are worse, as the government has made major investments in improving
them.
`Localising the obstetric care system will save people extra costs. We
are doing this so that people don't come to Yerevan and spend money
for nothing,' he said. `A few years ago, we didn't have regional birth
centres with modern equipment, so we can understand why people
preferred to seek more professional treatment. But now we need to make
sure that births take place at the local hospitals, since we have all
the equipment and specialists that are needed.'
Armenia currently 62 maternity units, 11 of them in Yerevan. Under
reforms adopted in 2009-10, medical centres in Ijevan, Hrazdan,
Armavir, Ararat, Ashtarak and Goris were given new equipment. The same
reforms also provided pay increases to encourage medical staff not to
move to the capital.
Some of the pregnant women contacted by IWPR expressed little faith in
the reforms, since the doctors in local hospitals remained the same as
before.
`If there were qualified specialists in the regions, then believe me,
not a single pregnant woman would go to give birth in Yerevan,' said
one expectant mother.
Arpi Harutyunyan is a reporter for Armnews television in Armenia.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/maternity-care-armenia-postcode-lottery