YEREVAN, July 17. /ARKA/. Armenian Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan commented Tuesday on the disclosure of a corruption scheme that lets conscripts evade military service or gives them adjournment.
The National Security Service has disclosed a corruption scheme, in which officials, doctors and military enlistment officers had been involved.
“This is not the first case, but I hope it will be the last case, which will teach a lesson to doctors and all those who are involved in such illegal activity,” the minister said. “We saw that in fact, a criminal group was acting. There had been similar revelations also in the past, but stunning and outrageous is that such a thing could happen after the recent changes and at a time when crackdown is launched on illegal exemption from military service.”
Torosyan warned all doctors and medical workers against being involved in such processes.
He didn’t rule out further revelations.
“Everyone who commits the same in the future should be punished,” he said.
In his words, to lessen room for fraud the ministry re-checks diagnoses.
”Conscripts with health problems can be examined in a several stages, even after they start their military services,” Torosyan said. “If major pathologies are found, young people are exempted from military service or undergo free treatment. Our goal is to ensure objectivity at all the stages of medical examination of conscripts.” .