Health Minister Conducts Campaign at Hospital

On Sunday at the Martuni Medical Center, events unfolded that once again highlighted how the government system is gradually becoming a party office. According to information from the 'Zhoghovurd' daily, Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan organized a gathering in the director's office, demanding the presence of members of the ruling party.

Tarun Arshakyan, a member of the Martuni community council and director of the Martuni State Medical College, personally welcomed Anahit Avanesyan at the hospital. Along with several council members from the ruling party, they waited for the chief physician to arrive from Yerevan to the Martuni Medical Center to organize campaign activities.

Healthcare workers visiting the hospital were hoping that the minister would seize the opportunity to address professional issues, tour the departments, and discuss healthcare matters with the medical staff. However, the minister conducted yet another party campaign instead. Rather than keeping the medical institution politically neutral, she transformed it into a partisan gathering place, diminishing the medical community's trust in her ministry.

A question arises: if the top official of the healthcare system enters the medical center not to solve professional issues but for campaigning, then who should focus on healthcare?

The minister's press secretary confirmed our information that the minister was indeed at the Martuni Medical Center, and provided the following clarification to the newspaper: 'The minister is well aware of where political campaigning and gatherings can take place, and where healthcare issues can be discussed and toured. It would be good to be informed that voters in the administration elections are party members, and the campaign is among party affiliates, so conducting a campaign in a different environment, as you say, is, to put it mildly, inappropriate. The minister was at the party office in Martuni, and afterward, taking advantage of her presence in the region, visited our medical center as well.'