Free Medication List Expanded to 450, Ministry of Health Reports

The Ministry of Health has announced that in response to the 2020 annual report of the Human Rights Defender concerning the allocation of free medications, the list of medications provided free of charge and at preferential conditions has been expanded to a total of 450 since 2018. Previously, up until 2018, the government guaranteed access to 312 chemical medications from the list of essential medicines in the Republic of Armenia.

The medications are distributed with full or partial reimbursement, based on the decree established by the Minister of Health, to eligible beneficiaries from social or special groups within the population. Since 2018, the beneficiary list has increased by approximately 265,000 individuals, which now includes recipients with a social vulnerability score of 28.01 or higher in the Family Social Assessment System (revised from the previous 30.01). Additionally, the list includes individuals affected by military actions or terrorist acts conducted by foreign states against the Republic of Armenia and/or the Republic of Artsakh.

Furthermore, it consists of individuals who have been permanently residing in the Republic of Artsakh and have been displaced to the Republic of Armenia due to foreign military operations or terrorist acts. It covers those injured during the conflict initiated by Azerbaijan in Artsakh on September 27, 2020, including both military personnel and non-conscription war participants (volunteers).

Financial resources allocated for this program until 2018 amounted to approximately 800-900 million AMD, with medical organizations achieving around 70% compliance due to the limited range of medications included in the essential drug list. After 2018, this amount reached around 1 billion 300 million AMD, and there are currently over-performances in this program by about 15-20%.