"They’re Taking Over Business at the State Level": Entrepreneur Accuses David Sanasaryan

In the photo, Hrant Pivazyan, director of "Fresen" LLC, and David Sanasaryan, head of the State Oversight Service.

Hrant Pivazyan, director of the Armenian partnership of the German company "Fresenius Medical Care", claims that the State Oversight Service is attempting to obstruct his company’s operations.

Pivazyan shared with Hetq that since 1997, his father Varazdat Pivazyan has established hemodialysis departments across Armenia and Artsakh. The company "Fresenius Medical Care" has donated more than 150 devices to medical institutions without any conditions. According to Pivazyan, there are ongoing attempts to "take over" their business. He has presented several documents supporting this claim and a timeline of related events.

In January 2019, the Vanadzor Medical Center announced a tender for hemodialysis supplies. However, Samvel Adyan, acting head of the procurement control department at the State Oversight Service (SOS), suggested officials at the Lori Provincial Administration modify the tender. The proposal included changing the method of sterilization in three of the five specifications. Additionally, Adyan suggested alterations to the technical characteristics of one specification in another tender from the same medical center.

Arthur Mkrtchyan, acting head of the Department of Health and Social Security at the Lori Provincial Administration, responded to the SOS official, stating that the products offered by "Fresen" are of high quality and reliability, and the equipment is under warranty, making the use of alternative supplies impractical at this stage. Vanadzor Medical Center’s director, V. Mkrtchyan, provided the same information to the provincial administrator.

One day later, Samvel Adyan sent a similar letter to the "St. Grigor Lusavorich" Medical Center, suggesting modifications to four specifications in the tender for hemodialysis supplies.

In an attempt to understand what conspiracy was being prepared, the director of "Fresen" LLC tried to contact SOS representative Samvel Adyan, who declined a meeting offer. However, upon learning that the entrepreneur was planning to appeal to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Adyan agreed to meet. "A few days after our phone conversation, a friend called me and said he wanted to meet to discuss this issue. I met with our mutual acquaintance, Taron Avetisyan, offering to clarify what these specific changes were aimed at. Taron Avetisyan responded to me, 'Sooner or later, you will find out. It’s better to tell you outright that now it's our turn to import hemodialysis equipment...,'" the company director revealed details from the meeting.

Another SOS employee, Gevorg Khachatryan, is also trying to convince head doctors at healthcare facilities to change the technical specifications. The "St. Grigor Lusavorich" Medical Center is altering the technical specifications. The company "Zorashen" LLC is participating in the announced tender, which, according to the armeps.am system, has supplied furniture to state institutions for years and has decorated Yerevan's arched corridors.

This company won the tender, submitted the technical specifications of the supplied items in the second phase, revealing that the submitted products were sterilized using radiation beta method, which is considered a violation of tender rules. "For instance, hemodialysis medical supplies, such as blood flow lines and metallic instruments, can be sterilized using gamma or beta methods. However, in the case of fibrous tissue contained in a hemodialyzer, gamma and beta can damage the structure of these tissues and lead to dysfunction, negatively affecting human life and health," explains the director of "Fresen" LLC.

Read the full article on hetq.am