Nurses and Nurse Practitioners Do Not Deserve Targeting or Degradation: Torosyan

The Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia, Arsen Torosyan, made a post on his Facebook page regarding the appointment of MP Hripsime Hunanyan as the head of the Health Committee of the National Assembly and the ongoing discussions around her professional background. Hunanyan, let it be noted, is a certified nurse and despite the criticisms, she has been elected as the committee chair.

“I especially direct my remarks to my medical colleagues who have been outraged by the election of the new chair of the National Assembly’s Health Committee, targeting a profession and those who represent it, who tirelessly work day and night to save thousands of lives. Dear colleagues, I believe, rather I am confident that nurses and nurse practitioners deserve not targeting or degradation, but only respect and gratitude for their extremely arduous work. In general, it is inappropriate for anyone, especially people of virtuous professions like doctors, to belittle any other profession, since all professions deserve appreciation. It is shameful not to work, not to work as a nurse or in any other profession, and such elitist approaches are unacceptable.

Now, let me address the demands placed on the head of the National Assembly’s committee. I find it interesting, or rather strange, that demands sound like this or that position must be held by a person with certain criteria. Are you not guided by double standards, dear colleagues? Have you read the Constitution of Armenia, which stipulates the requirements for becoming an MP, and are you equally ‘demanding’ of all officials, or have you thought of engaging in active politics to become the next chair of the committee or minister, since these are POLITICAL positions, not professional ones? You can answer this yourself.

As for Hripsime Hunanyan, I have known her for a long time as a knowledgeable and devoted specialist and citizen. But I completely ‘discovered’ her during the coronavirus pandemic when, serving as the senior nurse of our country’s largest intensive care unit, she saved thousands of lives alongside doctors, without going home for weeks and seeing her family, for which I thank her once again. Good service, Ms. Hunanyan,” wrote Torosyan.