YEREVAN. - Hospitals can be privatized but it is necessary to set concise requirements for investors, Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly (NA) Ara Babloyan said at the discussion of the 2010-2020 privatization plan on Wednesday.

According to him, the original goal of state hospitals is to have as little income as possible, at the same time ensuring high accessibility.

But there have been successful examples of privatization, when hospitals expanded their capacity by many times, he added.

On the other hand, there have been cases when medical institutions were put under the management of the Medical University. The state retained indirect control over them, helping future doctors to enter wards and surgery rooms earlier. In this context, Babloyan noted that practice is invaluable while learning medicine.

“Considering all this, we should simply set concise requirements for the investors,” he concluded.