Sahiba Gafarova: Azerbaijan has taken timely steps to combat COVID-19

"When the world was hit by the pandemic last year, Azerbaijan, despite Armenia’s military provocation and the subsequent 44-day war that began, took serious steps to timely and adequately respond to the threats posed by the spread of the infection," Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova said at a meeting of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg, Report’s Russian bureau informs.

Sahiba Gafarova noted the importance and relevance of the conference in light of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, which made the need for universal health coverage more important and significant than ever: “It should be noted that today one of the key tasks of universal health coverage is the availability of treatment for everyone. I believe that improving the quality and volume of investments in healthcare service in all countries, increasing action at national levels will further help bring the world closer to achieving this goal."

Speaking about healthcare in Azerbaijan, Milli Majlis Speaker Sahiba Gafarova emphasized that the healthcare system, having gone a long way of development, has achieved significant success:

“The development of the healthcare system, strengthening the material and technical base, human resources and renewal of infrastructure in this area is always in the center of attention of the state. As a result of the social policy pursued by the country's leadership, the annual increase in financing of health care from the state budget makes it possible to improve the activities of medical institutions and increase the level of services in general."

Gafarova is of the opinion that over the past eighteen years, more than 700 hospitals have been reconstructed and repaired in the country, medical institutions meet the highest standards, steps are consistently taken to improve the health care system and the quality of medical services, and thus, over 5 million people in Azerbaijan annually undergo medical examinations at the state expense.

"Currently, in order to improve the quality of medical services in the country to ensure access of the population to these services, compulsory health insurance is being introduced and for this purpose, the state agency for compulsory health insurance was created in 2016," Gafarova said.

Gafarova noted the state health projects implemented by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation: "The foundation has implemented many large projects in the field of organizing care and treatment for patients with diabetes, thalassemia, blood donation campaigns to improve maternal and child health."

In her speech, Sahiba Gafarova also stressed Azerbaijan's contribution to the World Health Organization: “Azerbaijan made a financial contribution and, along with this, to support the fight against coronavirus, we provided humanitarian and financial assistance to more than 30 countries, as well as donated vacinnes to seven various countrie.