Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited Vayots Dzor region and attended the opening ceremony of the regional medical center.

The Prime Minister congratulated those present on the occasion of the opening of the medical center and thanked the structures that implemented the project, as well as the tax-paying citizens of the Republic of Armenia. "There is such a tradition that when classrooms, wards, departments are renovated or built, it is customary to post noticeboards about who financed the construction of these structures. I want to say that the names of all taxpayers of the Republic of Armenia who participated in the creation of this structure are written on the walls of this medical center. And I want to emphasize that during the last year, we commissioned two large buildings in Yeghegnadzor, the other one being school number 1. I attach great importance to this link, so that every citizen of the Republic of Armenia, every tax payer can see the outcome of his work," said the Prime Minister.

The Head of the Government emphasized the importance of creating an efficient tax payment system. "Taxpayers need a place, a way to pay their taxes. And for this, government officials are needed, who will deal with the creation of this system of paying taxes, because the taxpayer cannot put his share of taxes on the sidewalk, on a bench, or leave them in a bus, under a tree in a park. There needs to be a system for paying those taxes, created by people who have the responsibility to do that, because it is not the duty of a builder, policeman, or doctor to create a system for paying taxes. And this is the reason why the State Revenue Committee exists in the Republic of Armenia. And the work of the SRC is not only to track those who do not pay taxes and apply administrative responsibility to them, but also to create a system for people to pay these taxes as quickly and conveniently as possible. And, understandably, in order to make the payment of these taxes more reliable, such conditions should be created for these workers so that they do not try to abuse their power", said Nikol Pashinyan, emphasizing in that context the need to provide high wages to those workers.

The Prime Minister emphasized the implementation of programs for the modernization of medical centers in regions. "The task of the Ministry of Health is to ensure access to health services. And it is this ministry that analyzes where the health service is fully available to people and where it is not available. This medical center was built because we found out, as a result of a long-term research, that more patients from Vayots Dzor region go to Yerevan to receive health care than receive it locally, despite the fact that there are medical centers in the region. The Ministry of Health also found out that the building conditions of health centers in the region are not satisfactory, the professionalism of the staff is not at adequate level. When we talk about medical centers, we think about making them attractive for medical patients, but in order for them to be attractive for medical patients, they must first be attractive for medical workers," said the Head of the Executive.

According to Nikol Pashinyan, medical centers with inadequate conditions receive few patients per day. As a result, professional doctors prefer to work, for example, in Yerevan, and their patients are forced to follow them to Yerevan. "And going after them to Yerevan, they will spend more funds than they can objectively spend. And that's what this project is about. We want to create an attractive center for both doctors and patients. But how is this center created? The Ministry of Health, our other structures – the regional administration, the community, the local governments - start discussions about what kind of health center is needed to be maximally effective, starting with the size, location, then a decision is made, a design is ordered. All this, of course, is financed from the state budget. Then these officials supervise the design process, formulate technical terms of reference and organize a tender for the construction company. They declare the construction company that wins the tender, supervise the construction, the whole process, so that we get what we got as a result. I described this so that every taxpayer of the Republic of Armenia can imagine this process, this is a very short description of how the tax he paid turns into that school and this medical center."

In the context of the implementation of such construction projects, the Prime Minister emphasized the necessity and importance of setting standards. "For example, what technical equipment should the regional health center have? And this will give the residents of Vayots Dzor the opportunity to save tens of millions of drams, because they will not have to go to Yerevan for every medical service. Of course, there will also be cases when the patient will have to go to Yerevan. a helipad has been created for emergencies. But I also want to say how important this is economically for Yeghegnadzor itself, because the relatives of the medical patients who went to Yerevan naturally shop there for various needs. Now residents of Vayots Dzor will either not spend or will spend nearby, which in turn will bring additional benefits to small, medium-sized businesses located nearby, which in turn will print cash register receipts with every transaction and pay their taxes, which in turn will turn into a road, school, kindergarten, etc. elsewhere.

This is the chain, as a result of which we have this medical center today. And I really want every citizen of the Republic of Armenia, every tax payer, looking at this medical center, school, road, to say to himself: I built, I created, I worked and here, I have a result, because we are just hired by that citizen, we are the workers, whose duty it is to direct every dram of tax paid to its place as efficiently as possible. Of course, that work is not perfect, but it is also not perfect because we pay just 150,000 AMD to many people in the state administration system and objectively require work worth 1.5 million AMD. I say this so that our citizens do not regret the money paid to the administration system, of course, with the realization that the administration system should be optimal, become optimal, more professional. But this is a parallel path, because the way the people react to the administration system, the same way the administration system reacts. And also, people record how the administration system treats people."

Nikol Pashinyan emphasized the importance of the medical center in terms of providing urgent health care services to the victims of traffic accidents. "Now we have a medical center in Yeghegnadzor, we have a medical center in Artashat, we are building a medical center in Sisian. And yes, when the population in our country will increase as a result of other demographic policies and the joint work of all of us, there will be medical centers and appropriate medical services in all places," said the Prime Minister and once again congratulated those present and wished success to all the workers of the center.

The construction of the new one-story building of the Vayots Dzor Regional Medical Center is provided by the Government Action Plan 2021-2026 and were carried out within the framework of "Disease Prevention and Control" program financed by the World Bank and the credit programs of the latter's additional financing. About 2.67 billion AMD were invested for the modernization of "Vayots Dzor Regional Medical Center" CJSC, of which 1.17 billion AMD (44%) were financed by the Armenian government, 1.5 billion AMD (56%) by WB loans.

The newly built building of the medical center is a structure with high seismic resistance, meeting the international standards of modern hospital construction. A boiler house and a power substation were built next to the building.

The medical center will have a blood transfusion department, a diagnostic department, including a laboratory, a reception desk, an emergency room, central disinfection and other support services. Within the framework of the project, the center was equipped with modern medical equipment, furniture and medical supplies. As a result of the modernization, the medical facility with a capacity of 46 beds will provide high-quality, affordable and modern medical services of secondary and some tertiary level to about 47.8 thousand people of Vayots Dzor region, close to their places of residence.

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Next, Prime Minister Pashinyan visited the Khachik settlement of the region, where he met the local residents, who thanked the Prime Minister for allocating 65.7 million AMD from the state budget and solving their credit problems caused by the credit guarantee. The Prime Minister emphasized that the government made a one-time political decision and urged not to face such problems due to lack of knowledge or other reasons. Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that the government's decision will open up opportunities, including the project to build an apartment and house in the border village of Khachik.

The Prime Minister had an unscheduled stop at the Yelpin settlement, talked with local residents, answered various questions, listened to their problems related to agriculture, irrigation water, and other social topics.