Epress.am News from Armenia
One of the most popular “departments” of the Armenian Armed Forces is known to be the medical department, which in certain circles, is known as the most important link to getting “released” from the army — where it is determined if a young man is fit for service or not, writes local daily Chorrord Inqnishkhanutyun (“Fourth Self-Authority”), reporting on the fraudulent activities in this area, particularly in connection with the sale of medication set aside for servicemen.
According to the daily, in the army huge sums are spent on medication and securing medical service. The paper then goes on to describe in detail the structure of the army’s medical department, noting the first point of contact is the dispensary and for more serious ailments, military officials are sent to the hospital, which is the second level of treatment.
However, very often, according to the paper, such medication can be found in the military unit that is supposed to be for pathologies treated in the hospital and which, naturally, are not administered by the doctors at the military unit’s dispensary. For instance, medication for cardiovascular ailments and liver disease can be found in the dispensary as well as very expensive antibiotics.
“At the military unit level, where it’s impossible to offer specialized care and the necessary equipment for diagnosis doesn’t exist, why are there such medication, which by not administering them in the military unit’s dispensary, pass their expiry date and go in the garbage. There is, however, a second version, which is also widely applied. The thing is, the medication signed off to the dispensaries is taken out of the military units and appear in civilian pharmacies for sale. The profit, you yourselves judge in whose pockets it goes to,” concludes the newspaper.