20 February 2020 11:18

Chairman of the Board of the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance Zaur Aliyev held a press conference

On February 20, 2020, Zaur Aliyev, the Chairman of the Board of the State Agency on Mandatory Health Insurance (the Agency), held a press conference at the Executive Secretariat of the New Azerbaijan Party. At the press conference, the Chairman of the Agency said that, as of February 15 of the current year, 607,063 hospital visits were made by 381,482 people in 23 cities and towns where mandatory health insurance is in effect. 1,321,592 medical services were provided, according to these visits. 

The most visits were made in the following regions:  Mingachevir (76,992), Yevlakh (48,325), Khachmaz (43,030), Sheki (42,896), and Gabala (42,874). The following medical facilities provided the most medical services: Mingachevir Central Hospital (244,747), Yevlakh Central Hospital (108,376), Agdash region Central Hospital (92,151), Khachmaz Central Hospital (72,757), and Sheki region Central Hospital (84,350). Z. Aliyev said that regional medical divisions have been established to ensure the efficient use of resources, including human resources of medical facilities, optimizing their activities and ensuring the access of the population to various types of medical services. At present, mandatory health insurance is in effect in 5regional medical divisions: “As to the number of visits made in those regional medical divisions, I can say that, as of February 15, the highest number of visits was made in the Sheki-Zagatala regional medical division . 169,204 visits were registered in Sheki - Zagatala, 149,683 in Barda - Yevlakh, 124,350 in Guba - Khachmaz, 83,562 in Goychay - Kurdamir, and 80,264 - in Mountainous Shirvan region.

Regarding the most common illnesses, as of February 15 the majority of visits were related with an acute upper respiratory tract infection. 12,182 visits were reported on this disease. The most common patient complaints included medical examination (7,189), high blood pressure (6,215), other general examination (5,372), non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (5,231), and other diseases. A total of 242 people received high-value vital operations in January. The most expensive surgeries included coronary stent placement (76 surgeries), cardiologic/cardiovascular surgery (60 surgeries), ophthalmology (42 surgeries), urology (24 surgeries), and neurology/neurosurgery (23 surgeries).

The Chairman of the Agency said one of the new measures is related to salary increments of healthcare workers. According to the regulation, the salary of health workers includes salary (tariffs), allowances for working conditions, incentive increments, and other payments provided by the Labor Code, depending on their position, seniority, and performance evaluation.

“All the medical workers subordinated to the Administration of the Regional Medical Divisions have been paid monthly salaries. Payment of salary increments takes. Mandatory health insurance is an important healthcare reform. For the first time in the healthcare system in Azerbaijan, health workers' performance is evaluated by economic and quantitative indicators. In the future, it is expected that health workers will be evaluated based on qualitative indicators. Currently, the accounting and financial departments of medical facilities are calculating bonuses and salary increments. The Agency also supports medical facilities in this regard. In the near future, health workers will receive their salary increments,” -said the Chairman of the Agency.

One of the innovations is the integration of the Agency's new electronic service, "Medical Cabinet of the Insured,” to the myGov portal. Citizens will now be able to follow the services provided by medical facilities under the mandatory health insurance by visiting the MyGov portal.

Z. Aliyev said that it is impossible to meet the expectations of the population from the healthcare system within a year:

“It requires a certain time and the process will find its solution in stages. In many countries, the implementation of mandatory health insurance has taken place over certain period of time. After the introduction of mandatory health insurance, the same doctors will work in hospitals to provide the same medical services. Simply, introducing new mechanisms and rules in the transition to mandatory health insurance will bring positive changes. Strengthening the material and technical resources of medical facilities, and expanding electronic services, the quality standards applied at medical facilities, training of healthcare workers, , and the application of salary increments - all of this will have a direct impact on the quality of medical services. Successful implementation of this reform will fundamentally change the healthcare system of our country and improve the population’s access to medical services.”