22 million 500 thousand drams allocated for Meghri's morgue

The newspaper 'Zhoghovurd' reports that earlier this year, rumors circulated that the Meghri community in the Syunik region lacks a customs post, police station, morgue, court, and cadastral committee office. State system employees hurried to refute these claims. Months later, 'due to urgent necessity', government allocations of millions of drams began for the construction of a morgue and customs station.

'Zhoghovurd' learned from the public procurement website that this year, the Ministry of Health has allocated 22 million 500 thousand drams for the development of project feasibility documents for the construction of the morgue in Meghri.

For about two years, there has been no functioning morgue in the Meghri region. According to information from 'Zhoghovurd', a fire broke out, and since then, it has not been renovated. Residents are forced to transport the deceased to Kapan for embalming. Considering that the Meghri-Kapan road may become impassable in winter, it is clear what difficult situation residents who have lost a family member or relative find themselves in. Such a situation has not been seen in memory.

Residents have repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the current situation. According to our information, during her visit to the Meghri area, Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan ordered that bodies be transported free of charge to Kapan by ambulance to quell the complaints.

The media has examined the official website of the Ministry of Health, which features the pricing for public procurement services. Emergency medical services do not include 'transportation of the deceased'. This means that, according to the situation, the minister ordered the transport of the deceased to Kapan and the return of the ambulance, but no necessary legal regulations were put in place for this service.

For instance, in Yerevan, the transportation of the deceased is a paid service. The distance from Meghri to Kapan is about 80 km and goes through mountainous passes. It should also be noted that 21 million euros in loans and grants have been allocated for Meghri's customs post.