The head of the Prosperous Armenia political party, Gagik Tsarukyan, met with the residents of Ashtarak as part of the snap parliamentary election campaigns.
Gagik Tsarukyan spoke about almost all sectors of the economy: work, pensions, investments, the banking system and rates, education, production, and health. He said that all of those sectors are presented in the party’s plan one-by-one. The head of the party said he knows about all these problems not because he read about them, but because he spoke to Armenian citizens, and all of these problems need to be resolved. Gagik Tsarukyan brought up the health sector as an area that needs change. “Health is one of the worst sectors in our country. The state budget sets aside money for it, but we can see that it isn’t fully working. People end up begging to receive treatment, but that is money from the people. That is why we need to have one free hospital in every region and two in Yerevan. Doctors will be given high salaries and hospitals will have all the right tools so that people who need surgeries won’t avoid going out of shame.”
“I met with an older woman in Yeghegnadzor who lost her leg. She said that they didn’t put a cast on in seven days at the hospital, but wanted 120,000 AMD. How is that allowed? The 80-year-old woman’s children are not here. How can people be so thoughtless in the medical field? Anyone would give their last penny. That’s why I say that, if the plans don’t justify it, then one hospital needs to be built in every region that is free for the people, or a voucher needs to be taken from money set aside for families in poor conditions so that if they, God forbid, ever have any health issues, they can present the vouchers and receive the treatment they need instead of begging for it.”
Ashot Hakobyan
