Low salaries lead to corruption
RA Minister of Health, Harutyun Kushkyan announced today that there will be no budget cuts due to the economic crisis and the lack of budget funds in the sphere of healthcare.
In 2010, there will be 55.3 billion drams grants for healthcare of which 21.1 billion drams will be used for 14 medical aid programs and 21.4 billion for 13 hospital projects.
The government has slashed the World Bank's loan programs for healthcare by 600 million drams.
According to the Minister, the salaries for the first and second circle of doctors will remain unchanged: the first circle of doctors' average salaries will be 77,000 drams, 50,000 drams for nurses, 66,000 for specialists and the average salary for hospital doctors will be 62,000 drams.
Harutyun Kushkyan says that doctors' salaries must go up whenever possible, but there are no possibilities for that now.
