Arsen Torosyan on the Salaries of Emergency Workers

“There is no planned increase for emergency workers’ salaries. If it is written, then it is old. However, there have been improvements in working conditions, insurance has been provided, and the workload has been reduced due to the increase in the number of brigades. Overall, salary increases are also dependent on the monthly on-call duties of medical workers. I am very much in favor of increasing emergency workers’ salaries, but the issue was urgent at the time of call servicing, as the responding vehicles were insufficient. We do not have such a situation now,” stated Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan during the discussion on the draft state budget for November 1, 2020, in response to a question from My Step MP Arpine Davoyan regarding the specific timeline for increasing the salaries of the emergency medical staff.

My Step member Narek Zeynalyan insisted that nevertheless, the salary is low for emergency workers, and it is possible to find funds for an increase because doctors are looking at patients’ hands. The minister responded, “I would be happy to discuss the financial source of the possible salary increase with you. Doctors are not looking at the patient’s hands as much now,” he said. The minister also announced that a classification of calls will be made in the near future, and non-urgent calls will not be serviced; those patients will be offered to visit the polyclinic the next day. Currently, a pilot program is being implemented, where calls are serviced not by emergency workers but by visiting doctors.

It should be noted that according to the draft state budget for 2020, 109 billion drams are allocated for health care, compared to 89.6 billion drams in 2018. According to Minister of Health A.Torosyan, an additional 12 billion drams were allocated to the ministry in June of this year by a government decision. Thus, the ministry's budget will increase by 7.3% in 2020. A total of 27.1 billion drams will be directed to primary health care, which is a priority issue for the ministry.