OREANDA-NEWS. April 23, 2008. Introducing the newly appointed minister Harutyun Kushkyan to the staff of RA Ministry of Health Care and congratulating him on his appointment, the head of RA government noted that Mr. Kushkyan's merits in the sphere of public health care are obvious:

"He is expert in the given sphere, enjoys the trust of all fellow colleagues engaged in the sphere, everyone appreciates his professional and organizing skills as he has had the opportunity to display his abilities and we are sure that assisted by you Mr. Kushkyan will succeed in defying those challenges facing the sphere. I want to remind you that we are facing quite an ambitious task, namely to create such a health care system in the Republic of Armenia as will help us become a regional center for health services. And you should remember this everyday and realize how closer your today's work has brought us to this target. What does "center of public health services" mean? First of all, it means providing high-quality services, introducing the best standards available in the sphere of public health services. We should not simply imitate the experience of advanced countries, instead we have to look ahead and apply such standards as are aspired to by the developed countries of the world. I am convinced that we are in a position to do so. Secondly, "center of public health services" means highly qualified experts. Thanks God, in both Soviet times and today our medical university used to be considered as the best one in the region. The human capital today we have in the Republic of Armenia inspires hope that together with you we will be able to solve this problem. This means that, first of all, we should pay attention to retraining programs, update our knowledge, as well as create opportunities for those experts working in the system to constantly undergo training and re-training in the best medical centers of the world so as their professional skills come to meet the modern requirements. That is we should not lag behind the innovations underway in the world. In the third place, this means those institutes which we have in Republic Armenia. We should create zones of public health services and drastically improve the technical equipment of our system of public health services. We should get rid of the physically and morally worn out institutes. The efforts in these 3 directions have to be programmed strictly so as within the next five years we could see that this is reality rather than a target. I am convinced that, led by Mr. Kushkyan, we shall be able to reach the RA President-set objective of becoming a regional center for public health services."