YEREVAN. – The Ministry of Health of Armenia is not making any financial savings with the decision to close the Maralik maternity hospital. Health Minister Arsen Torosyan told this to reporters today.

The minister said that it was back in mid-2018 that it had been decided to review the status of all organizations providing birth assistance in the country.

"Before, ministerial orders for granting degrees were issued without any justification," he said. “These degrees implied differences in financial compensation

"The number of births and the number of medical interventions is directly proportional to the quality of these services, it is an axiom in health care."

Torosyan emphasized that the same can be applied to birth assistance, where there is an issue of preventing infant and maternal mortality.

"Based on this principle, it was decided that the lowest threshold would be 150 births," he added. “Overcoming those 20 or 30 kilometers is easier than saving a child’s life in a difficult situation. (...) In the case of Maralik, the nearest is the Artik [medical] center, which is directly 15 kilometers from Maralik."

As reported earlier, demonstrators had closed the community’s national highway in protest against the closure of the Maralik maternity hospital. Shirak governor Tigran Petrosyan had met with them, urging them to reopen the road. They eventually reopened the road, as the closure of this maternity hospital shall be discussed at the Shirak provincial hall. The protesters said if it is decided that the maternity hospital shall be closed, they would close the road again. The demonstrators will await the outcome of this discussion.