At the request of American-Armenian doctors who arrived in Armenia to participate in the 6th International Medical Congress of Armenia, a meeting was held between them and the US Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien.
The doctors presented their concerns regarding the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh to the US ambassador.
Today, on July 7, the doctors who participated in the conference told reporters about the details of their conversation with the ambassador.
“We went to express our deep concerns about the health crisis in Artsakh, the violation of people’s fundamental rights, as Americans, as American-Armenians, to convey our concerns to the representative of our [US] government in Armenia, to make our voices heard and to hear their views on possible solutions to this problem, as well as hear their suggestions on what we can do as citizens and as healthcare professionals.
The solution we envision is to hold the Azerbaijani government accountable for the illegal blockade, to open the road immediately, ensuring uninterrupted access and free movement of people. Basically, we don’t see any other solution to this problem.
We will continue to defend our views on various platforms and will not stop. If the people of Artsakh look at us, we want them to know that we are by their side, we know that they are suffering, we are also suffering. You are not alone, we are with you, we are brothers and sisters and we are doing everything we can, in various directions, to find a peaceful solution to this problem,” said AMIC president, reproductive medicine specialist Vicken Sepilian.
According to him, as representatives of the medical community, their joint struggle will be more effective than individual efforts.
According to Columbia University professor, endocrinologist John Bilezikian, American-Armenian doctors have always included Artsakh in their plans in Armenia.
“We were in Artsakh before the crisis, within the framework of the osteoporosis treatment program. One of the 11 bone density measuring devices brought to Armenia is now in Stepanakert. We had high hopes to expand our research there, and now we also hope to be able to continue our activities there,” he said.
ASA United founder, future therapist Ani Arzoumanian stated that she considers the meeting with the ambassador effective and is sure that the embassy will convey their concerns to Washington.
“During the meeting with the ambassador, we insisted that the USAID investigation be resumed. We constantly repeated the word “crisis,” which is absent from the US government’s speech. We also asked the US government to put pressure on the implementation of the decision of the International Court of Justice in February of this year on lifting the blockade. We, as specialists in the field of healthcare, drew special attention to the lack of medicines, healthy food, social-psychological consequences of a long blockade, as well as talked about patients in serious condition who were not allowed to be transported to Armenia for medical treatment.
We have to take all possible steps, we cannot say what benefits this will actually bring, but I think we used this opportunity correctly. We could not come to Armenia as American-Armenian specialists in the field of healthcare and not try to meet influential people. The ambassador responded to all our comments, seemed to agree with many of our approaches, assured us that she is taking many steps, sometimes not publicly. And I think, as a result, the embassy will convey our concerns about Artsakh to Washington. Let’s see what it will do,” she said.
Source : News.am
