The Minister of Health of Armenia, Anahit Avanesyan, stated that Armenia's experience in implementing universal health insurance and the consistent implementation of reforms give the country's healthcare system a special place on the international healthcare map:
She noted that in the first months of the system's implementation, the new order was somewhat unusual for healthcare workers, and it took time for them to fully adapt to the requirements of the insurance system and properly register the services provided:
“At this point, we are already recording a sufficient increase in salaries. Only due to the implementation of universal health insurance, salaries in the primary care sector have increased by an average of 30-40 percent,” the minister stated during a press conference on June 30, according to Armenpress:
According to Avanesyan, there are also some ambulatory clinics that are still facing certain difficulties due to previously accumulated financial obligations:
“The system has transitioned to a performance-based remuneration principle, meaning that a specialist's pay is directly dependent on the number of patients they serve. If a specialist does not serve patients during the day, it will affect their salary. At the same time, we have specialists with high workloads, whose remuneration has increased several times. There are also specialists in the polyclinic sector whose monthly salary exceeds 1 million drams,” she said:
Addressing the issue of waiting times, the minister noted that the average waiting time for an appointment with a specialist in the primary care sector is about two weeks:
“There are more in-demand specialists, for whom the waiting time may be longer, but on average, two weeks is a very good indicator,” Avanesyan said, adding that citizens in need of urgent medical care can immediately contact the emergency medical services of hospitals:
