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Cancer Patient Anzhela: Medical Bureaucracy Prevents Her from Getting
the Palliative Drugs She Needs
Larisa Paremuzyan
http://hetq.am/eng/news/29993/cancer-patient-anzhela-medical-bureaucracy-prevents-her-from-getting-the-palliative-drugs-she-needs.html
15:32, October 12, 2013
In the northern Armenian town of Alaverdi, there are more than 600
patients registered at the local hospital's ONCO (oncology) clinic.
47 year-old Anzhela Avagyan, who suffers from advanced breast cancer,
is one of them.
She lives in the nearby town of Akhtala with her mother, who is also
seriously ill. They survive on Anzhela's 15,000 dram pension and her
mother's 20,000.
The palliative drugs prescribed by her physician (Tramadrol and
Paracetamol) are not freely distributed; either by the Alaverdi Health
Center or the Alaverdi Medical Center.
To get the palliative drugs, Akhtala Health Center Director Dr. Karen
Azaryan writes two prescriptions per week for Anzhela.
Anzhela's only caretaker, her sister, must make the trip to Akhtala to
pick up the prescriptions and then travel to either Noyemberyan or
Vanadzor to purchase the drugs.
Dr. Azaryan told Hetq that while the ONCO clinic at the Alaverdi
Medical Center is obliged to give the palliative drugs for free to
advanced cancer patients, but it doesn't. He added that none of the
pharmacies in Alaverdi has a license to sell narcotic drugs like
Tramadrol (a centrally acting opioid analgesic used to treat moderate
to moderately severe pain). Thus, Anzhela's sister must make the trip
to Noyemberyan or Vanadzor, towns located an hour or two away.
Hetq contacted Stepan Mosinyan, Director of the Alaverdi Medical
Center as to why they don't provide the opioids.
He said that they are obligated to provide the drugs no cost to all
advanced cancer patients in the town of Alaverdi and the Tumanyan
region when needed. He added, however, that the drugs were provided to
cancer patients living in communities whose medical out-patient
clinics operate under the purview of the Alaverdi Medical Center.
`The Akhtala Medical Center is obligated to provide Akhtala resident
Anzhela Avagyan opioids at no cost. To do so, the Center's
administration must obtain a license to dispense the drugs,' Director
Mosinyan said.
We then went back to Dr. Azaryan for clarification.
`We don't have the financial resources to obtain an opioid license.
I'm not even planning to get such a license because we don't have the
means to store and maintain these drugs. There is just the one ONCO
clinic in the entire region that is obligated to provide the opioids
to all advanced cancer patients in the communities,' said Dr. Azaryan.
Nurse Hermineh Arakelyan, Director of the Shnogh out-patient clinic,
told us that her unit, which serves residents of Shnogh and Tumanyan
villages, and isn't under the purview of the Alaverdi Medical Center,
also doesn't have a license to dispense opioids.
`It's the Alaverdi ONCO clinic that prescribes and dispense narcotics
and opioids to our cancer patients,' Arakelyan said.
It turns out the pharmacy owners avoid selling opioids and narcotic
pain relievers to the seriously ill, since they don't want to pay for
the licenses and the additional costs involved in safeguarding the
drugs. They also don't want law enforcement making periodic
inspections to see that the drugs are safe and secure.
Many pharmacy owners said that those drugstores which already dispense
no cost drugs under the government's subsidized system should also
dispense narcotic drugs to cancer and other seriously ill patients.
They said that the pharmacy currently dispensing drugs under the
government plan in Alaverdi is owned by Alaverdi medical Center
Director Stepan Mosinyan.
We informed Lori Provincial Governor Artur Nalbandyan about this
bureaucratic nightmare and how cancer patients like Anzhela can't get
the palliative drugs she needs for free.
Nalbandyan promised that he would look into the matter but that he
would take immediate steps to get Anzhela the drugs she needs.
This, however, is a stop gap measure and hardly resolves the underlying matter.
Anzhela's case isn't the only one in Alaverdi and surrounding communities.
Relatives of cancer patients have always complained about not getting
the narcotic palliative drugs for free. They still continue to
complain.
Despite the ongoing problem, the Lori Department of Health and
Armenia's Ministry of Health have so far failed to adequately resolve
the issue.
In the meantime, Anzhela and hundreds like her are forced to fend for
themselves.
From: A. Papazian
the Palliative Drugs She Needs
Larisa Paremuzyan
http://hetq.am/eng/news/29993/cancer-patient-anzhela-medical-bureaucracy-prevents-her-from-getting-the-palliative-drugs-she-needs.html
15:32, October 12, 2013
In the northern Armenian town of Alaverdi, there are more than 600
patients registered at the local hospital's ONCO (oncology) clinic.
47 year-old Anzhela Avagyan, who suffers from advanced breast cancer,
is one of them.
She lives in the nearby town of Akhtala with her mother, who is also
seriously ill. They survive on Anzhela's 15,000 dram pension and her
mother's 20,000.
The palliative drugs prescribed by her physician (Tramadrol and
Paracetamol) are not freely distributed; either by the Alaverdi Health
Center or the Alaverdi Medical Center.
To get the palliative drugs, Akhtala Health Center Director Dr. Karen
Azaryan writes two prescriptions per week for Anzhela.
Anzhela's only caretaker, her sister, must make the trip to Akhtala to
pick up the prescriptions and then travel to either Noyemberyan or
Vanadzor to purchase the drugs.
Dr. Azaryan told Hetq that while the ONCO clinic at the Alaverdi
Medical Center is obliged to give the palliative drugs for free to
advanced cancer patients, but it doesn't. He added that none of the
pharmacies in Alaverdi has a license to sell narcotic drugs like
Tramadrol (a centrally acting opioid analgesic used to treat moderate
to moderately severe pain). Thus, Anzhela's sister must make the trip
to Noyemberyan or Vanadzor, towns located an hour or two away.
Hetq contacted Stepan Mosinyan, Director of the Alaverdi Medical
Center as to why they don't provide the opioids.
He said that they are obligated to provide the drugs no cost to all
advanced cancer patients in the town of Alaverdi and the Tumanyan
region when needed. He added, however, that the drugs were provided to
cancer patients living in communities whose medical out-patient
clinics operate under the purview of the Alaverdi Medical Center.
`The Akhtala Medical Center is obligated to provide Akhtala resident
Anzhela Avagyan opioids at no cost. To do so, the Center's
administration must obtain a license to dispense the drugs,' Director
Mosinyan said.
We then went back to Dr. Azaryan for clarification.
`We don't have the financial resources to obtain an opioid license.
I'm not even planning to get such a license because we don't have the
means to store and maintain these drugs. There is just the one ONCO
clinic in the entire region that is obligated to provide the opioids
to all advanced cancer patients in the communities,' said Dr. Azaryan.
Nurse Hermineh Arakelyan, Director of the Shnogh out-patient clinic,
told us that her unit, which serves residents of Shnogh and Tumanyan
villages, and isn't under the purview of the Alaverdi Medical Center,
also doesn't have a license to dispense opioids.
`It's the Alaverdi ONCO clinic that prescribes and dispense narcotics
and opioids to our cancer patients,' Arakelyan said.
It turns out the pharmacy owners avoid selling opioids and narcotic
pain relievers to the seriously ill, since they don't want to pay for
the licenses and the additional costs involved in safeguarding the
drugs. They also don't want law enforcement making periodic
inspections to see that the drugs are safe and secure.
Many pharmacy owners said that those drugstores which already dispense
no cost drugs under the government's subsidized system should also
dispense narcotic drugs to cancer and other seriously ill patients.
They said that the pharmacy currently dispensing drugs under the
government plan in Alaverdi is owned by Alaverdi medical Center
Director Stepan Mosinyan.
We informed Lori Provincial Governor Artur Nalbandyan about this
bureaucratic nightmare and how cancer patients like Anzhela can't get
the palliative drugs she needs for free.
Nalbandyan promised that he would look into the matter but that he
would take immediate steps to get Anzhela the drugs she needs.
This, however, is a stop gap measure and hardly resolves the underlying matter.
Anzhela's case isn't the only one in Alaverdi and surrounding communities.
Relatives of cancer patients have always complained about not getting
the narcotic palliative drugs for free. They still continue to
complain.
Despite the ongoing problem, the Lori Department of Health and
Armenia's Ministry of Health have so far failed to adequately resolve
the issue.
In the meantime, Anzhela and hundreds like her are forced to fend for
themselves.
From: A. Papazian