2-4-6-8 what do we appreciate?

Anahid,

Sorry to bust this bubble but in fact, no nurse makes only $55 a month in Armenia. There is a system of "informal payments" in the medical sector that means that treatment that should be free by law isn't. As an example, when my 4 year old son recently needed an operation that should be free we were asked to pay $250 informally. That morning, 20 other families did the same. $5,000 entered the shadow economy and was distributed among the doctors and nurses as well as going higher.

As a result, according to official statistics, ony 1 in 3 Armenians seeks medical treatment. Of course, it's a Catch-22 situation. If salaries are low, corruption flourishes and because it does, and as the economy is weak, the state budget can't rise salaries in the public sector sufficiently to stamp out corruption. Incidentally, even official payments end up in the shadow. Instead of going through a system of official paperwork they are paid into the hands of doctors and nurses and as a result, hospitals can not be kept in sufficient shape.

It's a huge issue in Armenia. I was even recently told recently of one case by an international worker here that when a local friend of his was recruited by a hospital, salary $50-100, she was then expected to pay her department head $1,000 on her first day of work. I think that gives you an indication of how much money is unofficially going through the system. Anyway, there's an interesting document on this subject on the Armenian International Policy Research Group site.

As for extravagance and this being all Americans, have you seen the motorcades of the oligarchs made up of Hummers yet, or the mansions built by government officials. Go out towards Abovian and take a look at Dodi Gago's "palace" on the hill? Yet, every year, his businesses which include Kotayk beer, post losses.

Some details of Armenian extravagance can be found online as well.

WOW is right! I am thrilled to hear about everyone's positive, amusing, and educating experiences. Reading your enlightened words brings back many lessons learned; and, I hope your time in our homeland continues to soar.

GOOD LUCK interns and please continue to keep us posted!

Love,

Mary Ann

Armenians Denied Free Healthcare As Corruption Remains Norm

My response to your refusal to publish my comments

Here is my response to Onnik's remarks.

Here is my response to Onnik's remarks:

http://onnik.blogspot.com/2005/07/more-diasporan-myopia.html#comments

Let me just say that corruption exists everywhere including in the USA, Canada, UK and so on. It’s a reality. Armenia is not exempt. CYMA group is there NOT TO HELP any hospital, rather, some of the participants are there to learn and gain some experience in the field for which they are majoring in, in various colleges. Hence the word internship.
I am not sure what was your objective in pointing out the obvious corrupted side of Armenia.

Mike

Yes, corruption exists everywhere but if you're going to use that broken record to rationalize corruption in Armenia, you're really of no use to anyone here. Corruption is HUGE in comparison to the West. It means only 1 in 3 people can seek medical care in Armenia because doctors and nurses take informal payments. It also means that people die as a result. The state budget that should be able to support the most vulnerable could double if taxes were paid and corruption were tackled but it isn't.

Anyway, when I hear this stuff about corruption in the US and UK it makes me laugh, or should that be cry? Here, the Diaspora implement no oversight, transparency or accountability when supplying humanitarian assistance. As an example, the UAF's airlifting of medical assistance to Armenia that was left to expire because the guy in the Ministry of Health who is responsible for such things also has a side business in selling drugs.

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/h-0304-medicine-1.html

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/h-0304-medicine-2.html

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/h-0304-medicine-3.html

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/h-0404-medicine.html

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/0408-medicine.html

http://www.hetq.am/eng/society/0407-medicine.html

Thankfully, Edik Baghdasarian of Hetq Online pursued this case even though people very high up in the UAF told me privately that corruption in the medical secor should be best left unspoken. Great approach. The same kind of policy the media has in the West, right Mike?

But did Bisharyan's head roll? No, it didn't. Because corruption IS the system in Armenia from the top to the bottom rather than in the UK and US where it is significantly less and where people are prosecuted for it and get stuck behind bars when they get found it. Armenia is a post-soviet transitional republic that's future as well as its ability to supply social and health services is threatened by endemic corruption that sometimes is partly fed by the Diaspora.

Anyway, point taken about internship but no, you do not stick interns into an environment in a former soviet republic where corruption is rampant without giving them a background briefing. As a result, although admittedly because of the rose-tinted glasses and romantic psychosis of many Diasporans visiting Armenia, Anahid posted a blog that will never do anything to resolve the problem of the MAJORITY of the population NOT having access to healthcare in this country.

I wonder if I'll ever get taken off moderation?

A good test on whether the CMYA allows freedom of thought and discussion or not...

Appears I am off moderation but my last post about corruption in the medical sector has been put on moderation for some reason. People can read it anyway in the comments section of my blog on the CYMA.

http://onnik.blogspot.com/2005/07/more-diasporan-myopia.html

Thanks. The post is there now.

Onnik, I don’t mean to argue with you but still don’t see your point about corruption in Armenia and CYMA’s mission. We know there is corruption in Armenia, so do CYMA participants as each and every Diaspora’s Armenian does without even setting a foot there.

You say that these people should have been briefed prior to departing to Armenia and I agree with you. However, how do YOU know that they were not briefed?

Despite the corruption and the risk of being robed in Armenia, these participants went to see how things are done in Armenia in the field in which they are majoring in. Their mission is neither to abolish corruption there nor to expose the already well known fact of life in the former Soviet Union republic. I am sure if there is a Business major among the CYMA participants, they will learn how they do (corrupt) business in Armenia.

The whole world knows what you’re writing pages after pages about. It is unfortunate. If I were living in Armenia, I certainly would not have wanted to be denied of a good medical care. No one does.

However the fact remains: 1) everyone is aware of the corruption in Armenia. You’re not saying anything that we don’t already know. 2) CYMA participants are in Armenia for interning in various fields, including medical field. One of them reported how the surgery was performed and what she was told that they earn.

How are you contributing to the eradication of the corruption there and how successful have you been so far with your efforts?

Mike

i'd like to say that i think what CYMA is doing is hghly comendable. Onnik ont he other hand, you are being extremely childish. i read your commetns on this site, CYMA and yours. seriously, if you want to make a point shut up about being 'on moderation', i saw that it has been explained on more than one occasion that everyone is on moderation at eh beginning until they can trust your comments.

People are aware of the corruption in Armenia, however, what if, on this occasion maybe you could stop being so cynical and pessimistic and se that not every armenian would take bribes and maybe, just maybe, this nurse was telling Anahid the truth.

i have interned here and the first thing they said to me was that if i came here to change armenia, the door wa to my left. change in armenia is going to come slowly therefore we have to understand the existance of corruption but not accept it.

your comments regarding business (Kotayk beer company etc.) is occuring everywhere. in every society there will be a polorisation of rich and poor, its an inevitable consequence of capitalism. hopefully you knew that, although your comments made it seem like you didn't.

the internship program for 2005 is "Bridge the Gap'. that is what every single intern is doing, however, your comments place a significant downer on this. if people cant accept what they are doing as something good, then slowly the number of interns will die out. we have to praise them for what they are doing. spendiong their own time for the good of not only visting their motherland, but also havign some effect at their intern placement. i really think on some level you should be ashamed of yourself for not encouraging the future of armenia.

Maria