Open news feed Close news feed
A A

Issue of medical assistance escalates in Kosh prison (video)

Social
20067946_1569069339811457_77946885_n

The problem of medical assistance is serious in Kosh prison, which has 398 inmates. Treatment for headache, toothache and some other illnesses will be found here. But the problem is unsolvable, if there are more complex situations. Galust Karapetyan, Head of the medical service of the prison, tells “A1+”, “There are cases, when a person has a chronic disease and that person receives medicine from outside, and we don’t have such medicine. Relatives may bring medicine.” Liparit Petrosyan, who was imprisoned along lines of the case of Shant Harutyunyan and friends on November 5, 2013, also has problems with medicine, “Glucophage, which 10 pills cost AMD 7000-8000, I must take two pills a day, can you imagine the total amount?” Liparit Petrosyan, who appeared here because of his opposition outlooks, has diabetes, “Medical staff is very caring, they do their best and assist. The problem isn’t it. In my case the medicine is very expensive. The medical staff cannot buy with their means, the state must allocate it, but it doesn’t do.” Roman Gevorgyan, who has been in custody for 11 years, started and continues his sentence under the burden of diseases. He tells “A1+”, “During the custody I have got a number of diseases- tuberculosis, intestinal disease several times, there have also been serious illnesses; I have brain trauma.” Roman states that since he has been imprisoned, he has been more in hospitals than in prison. Now with the mediation of the institution, he has got a chance to continue the treatment with the state support, but he is not able to use that right. “We went to the hospital, they say that the state financing is over, when the Ministry of Justice sends us there, don’t they know that it is over?” says Roman Gevorgyan. The medical section of Kosh prison is mainly in favorable situation. But in case of being ill, inmates lie in a narrow and small room. Four people in one place, “For a normal course, better, bigger conditions are necessary. But the current conditions aren’t bad.” There is means for light surgical intervention. But the technical equipment of the medical section is incomplete. “We would like to have an X-ray device, that is primary so that the patients with pulmonary problems and fractures be examined in a right way,” says Galust Karapetyan. The healthcare problems registered in Kosh PI are typical of other prisons in Armenia, too. The social observers’ group carrying out social control in prisons and bodies of the Ministry of Justice carried out a poll among inmates in 2015. According to the poll, only 1/3 of inmates wholly receive the necessary medicine. The majority have to turn to their relatives and friends. One out of ten had to pay for the medicine received in the PI.