Arsineh at Cilicia.com’s Life in Armenia recounts her recent experience with the Armenian Health Care System. Without a doubt, seeking medical attention here is pretty much akin to playing Russian Roulette and might even be more dangerous. Inefficiency, incompetence and downright corruption define almost the entire system, and it’s no wonder that only 1 in 3 Armenians seek medical treatment when they need it.

Public healthcare, which is only partly subsidized by the state, remains effectively off limits to the majority of Armenia’s population hamstrung by poverty and especially rampant corruption among medical personnel.

Government research, backed up by anecdotal evidence, indicates that most Armenians suffering from various illnesses continue to turn to doctors as a last resort, when hospitalization becomes their only chance of survival.

The thriving practice of informal payments at virtually every government-funded hospital or policlinic means they remain reluctant to seek even those medical services that are officially free of charge. According to the most recent household survey conducted by the National Statistical Service in 2003, only one in three people with health problems visit a medical facility.

We’ve almost all been there and have lost faith in ever seeking medical assistance again. From my own experience I’ve had constant misdiagnoses in order for doctors to exort more money from me, and when my five-year-old son was ill a few years ago a doctor told me he would die in less than a week unless I paid her “however much you think your son’s life is worth.”

In actual fact, he just had a stomach bug and as he was born in Armenia is exempt from any payments because the law says that all medical treatment for children under the age of seven are entitled to free payment, but a system of “informal payments” is instead in place. Recently, for example, I saw 20 families pay one doctor $200-250 each for a 20 minute hernia operation for their kids.

In just one morning, over $4,000 changed hands in the shadows.

Anyway, Arsineh can now be added to the list of those with horror stories to tell about the medical system here. Thankfully for her, however, she managed to seek proper medical treatment in the United States. However, she also points out another unfortunate consequence of the situation here. That is, many people instead resort to often primitive remedies based more on folklore rather than proven experience.

Okay, so this isn’t a new realization. I’m not an idiot, I know the medical field is not up to par in Armenia. But it certainly needs to catch up. 99.9999% of the tourists and visitors I encountered this year got sick, many very seriously. When I left, majority of the people I encountered in the last few days were sick. The sadest reality of it all is that the people have no faith in medicine and rely on their primitive home remedies… the same people who believed Jermouk cures cancer. Everyone thinks they have the solution… EVERYONE!!!! And they all disagree with eachother, and they are all convinced they are 100% right. I’m not a big believer in medicine and try to limit usage of pills all together. But I learned how beautiful technology really is and what a difference it makes. As opposed to the guessing game they play in Armenia, I saw for myself what is going on in my body.

You might say it’s all because doctors and nurses get paid well in this country, have the training available to them, etc. I completely agree. No doubt there are doctors in Armenia who would be brilliant life-saving doctors if they had the same opportunities. It’s a vicious cycle. The doctors don’t know what they are doing and the people don’t trust them. But if there is one thing to come out of this, it should be this: None of you know the remedy, so unless you have saved a life before with medicine, don’t tell me the answer to my cure. All the madzoun, rice, vegetables, and herbal tea in the world would not have cured me because it was the job of a tested and proven antibiotic to do the job. Stop playing doctor people!

Arsineh’s post in full is here, and Myrthe recounted another bad experience earlier this year. Unfortunately, these are only the tip of the iceberg.