Audit Chamber Made Errors and Manipulative Conclusions: Torosyan on COVID-19 Report

KP member Arsen Torosyan wrote on his Facebook page: “Today, a joint meeting of the Finance-Budgetary and Health Committees took place in the National Assembly, during which the Audit Chamber's report on the COVID-19 pandemic was discussed. As I have previously stated, today’s discussion once again clarified that:

1. The audit attempted to make professional conclusions about a process for which it has no specialized knowledge. Moreover, the audit did not address the fact that the processes for combating COVID-19 were carried out under emergency conditions, and many decisions were made promptly to prevent the collapse of the healthcare system.
2. The audit contains obvious errors, manipulative, and subjective judgments based on the authors’ opinions, which led to further erroneous and manipulative conclusions.
3. Many legal acts were not studied or taken into account during the audit, and conclusions were drawn regarding their absence or lack of regulatory provisions. For instance, it was not considered that, by the relevant government decree, public administration bodies were permitted to carry out direct purchases due to the unpredictability of the pandemic, allowing us to ensure the provision of all necessary supplies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in the context of a global shortage of medicines, protective means, and medical devices, which was successfully executed. In contrast, references are made to nonexistent legal acts, such as a 'recorded decision of the Prime Minister.' Let me inform you that our legislation does not foresee the existence of such a legal act, and therefore, the documentation of the outcomes of various discussions cannot be considered a legal act. It is surprising that the Audit Chamber, with so many years of experience, is unaware of this.
4. For unclear reasons, the Audit Chamber did not accept the explanations and clarifications provided by the Ministry of Health during the audit. Our inquiries about why specific clarifications were rejected went unanswered.
5. All the so-called 'discoveries' made during the audit are nothing but the result of a lack of professional knowledge and conclusions disconnected from context. During the audit, incomparable quantities were compared, the geographical distribution of hospitals was not taken into account, and the specificities of their expansion and de-escalation were overlooked, as well as differentiation based on the severity of patients’ illnesses, etc.”