The concept of a school doctor has not been grasped for the past ten
years. The only ones that remain are the school nurses who try to cure
the children and adolescents the best they can in school. After the
optimization of doctors, the government made a decision that there have
to be doctors visiting the school at least once a week.
Everyone predicted that the local pediatricians from the polyclinic
were the ones who had to fulfill this obligation, but the polyclinics
did not reduce the staff. Many schools have doctors visiting for free,
or as they call it “based on principles of society”. But the thing is
that the students may see the doctor only once a week and that is of
course if they “luckily” get sick during the 3-4hours when the doctor
is in his office. Meanwhile, the role that doctors play in the school
can not be substituted and the work is extensive. According to
regulations, the school doctor needs to conduct yearly screening tests.
This means that the doctor has to check the student’s weight, height,
sight, hearing, conduct check-ups in order to see if the student has
any illnesses, as well as check once a month in order to prevent
parasitic illnesses and illnesses that spread by infection. Children
with chronic illnesses must be under the doctor’s supervision and need
to be checked periodically. The doctor is also responsible for the
control of the cafeteria and the bathrooms. This was in the past. Now,
nurses may give the student something to lower his or her temperature
(not antibiotics) and let him or her go home. If there is a need for
further treatment, the nurse is competent in doing that even when she
is experienced. So, overall, the bad medical aid turned into a
guarantee for the student’s bad health, and everyone has the right to
complain. First of all, people can complain to the polyclinic doctor
who is supposed to leave everything else and work at the school for
free, even though there are doubts about how effective working at the
school really is. Secondly, the nurses are the ones to blame who sit in
their offices for hours and do nothing. But when the time comes for
treatment, they are the ones who write down the height and weight of
the student and hand it to the other nurse.
The chief administrators at the polyclinic are also disappointed, but
they still demand that doctors go to the school and even make
schedules. Finally, the parents are the ones who are most upset about
the maltreatment of their children. A child who attends school is prone
to acquire illnesses which can not be cured later on in life. Some of
those illnesses include the crookedness of the spinal cord, poor sight,
problems with the digestive system, illnesses contracted from
infections which all have their effects. Incidents and psychological
illnesses are also included. In other words, professional help is a
real necessity. Preschool and school chief administrator of the “Manuk”
polyclinic Donara Hovsepyan has no idea how long this will continue and
what awaits us for the future. She was even surprised to know that the
Ministry of Health has no information regarding school doctors. It
turns out that the so-called school first-aid posts are a
self-governing mechanism and the people responsible for that are not in
the public eye.
It all reaches absurdity at the nurseries. In contrast to students, the
nurses working in kindergartens do not follow the polyclinic’s
regulations and the cadre issues are solved confidentially. “The
director of the kindergarten welcomes the nurses without taking our
opinions in consideration. The director is the one who approves our
methodical demonstrations,” says Donara Hovsepyan. According to rough
estimates, the state budget must provide 3,900,000 million drams in
order to pay 20,000 to keep doctors in each school in Yerevan. Is this
really the amount worth spending for children’s health?