Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, at the start of the government meeting, addressed the photographs of the storage of the remains and bodies of fallen soldiers at the Abovyan morgue. He noted whether this is the state’s or the government’s attitude towards fallen soldiers and, in general, towards the deceased. The Acting Prime Minister asked Acting Minister of Health Anahit Avanesyan to present on this matter what had happened and what the situation had been in this sector before 2018.
Anahit Avanesyan noted that before 2018, the forensic medical center operating under the ministry’s jurisdiction had only the Yerevan morgue. “In the regions, there were no branches at all. The forensic medical service had 25 refrigeration spaces in Yerevan; now it has about 200 refrigeration spaces. Since 2018, the Yerevan central morgue has been completely renovated, and the refrigerators have been equipped with new laboratory equipment, and in 2020 the Metsamor morgue was repaired, the Abovyan morgue was thoroughly renovated, and now an additional new refrigeration section is being built, and the Martuni branch is being equipped. Staff salaries have increased by 25 percent,” noted Anahit Avanesyan.
Responding, Nikol Pashinyan noted that this system’s budget in 2019 increased by 117 million drams compared to 2018, and in 2020 by 230 million drams. Pashinyan also added that Armenia did not have a DNA testing device before May 2018.
“This shows the government’s attitude towards what is happening. All people connected to that incident have been dismissed from work, but when reforms take place in systems, we see protests, complaints, that, look, people are being dismissed from work,” noted Pashinyan, adding that many employees of the forensic medical center worked 24 hours, seven days a week during this period, without rest, “moreover, under pressure, very often under insults, and their work cannot but be appreciated”:
According to Nikol Pashinyan, lessons must be drawn from this incident, but, on the other hand, the government or the minister of health cannot go every day, visit all places and see who is working how.
“At this moment, in essence, the DNA testing work has reached its final stage; we have bodies that have not been identified, but we also have relatives of the missing who, for various reasons, have not submitted DNA samples. We also have identified bodies that, for various reasons, have not been taken by relatives; there are objective and subjective reasons. We also have around 50 remains from which DNA has not been extracted even after the 4th or 5th attempt; to clarify these cases, we must turn to our international partners,” said Nikol Pashinyan.
