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Azerbaijan's Health Minister: Deaths from thalassemia drop 5-fold in last 20 years

Teymur Musayev, Minister of Health of Azerbaijan

30 January 2025 11:36 (UTC +04:00)

The approach to primary medical and sanitary assistance should be comprehensive, said Azerbaijan's Health Minister Teymur Musayev at a public hearing on "Primary health care: current situation, work done, problems and ways to solve them" at a meeting of the Health Committee of the Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani Parliament), APA reports.

The Minister said that during the years of independence, reforms have been continuously implemented in the health sector in Azerbaijan: "The basis of President Ilham Aliyev's policy is the well-being of Azerbaijani citizens and their health protection. The funds allocated to health have been increased 30 times. At the same time, major repairs and reconstruction works have been carried out in more than 700 medical institutions. More than 70% of them are medical institutions and outpatient facilities located in the regions."

Teymur Musayev noted that over the past 20 years, measures to combat blood diseases have been strengthened, reducing the number of deaths from thalassemia by 5 times: "In 2023, Azerbaijan was registered as a country completely free of malaria. Since April 2021, the introduction of compulsory health insurance in all regions of our country has fantastically increased the population's access to a number of medical services. 3315 medical services are currently included in the service envelope, the number of surgical operations in certain areas has increased by 89%. This in itself shows that there is a medical infrastructure that can provide high-level medical services to the population by receiving funding. The introduction of compulsory health insurance in recent years makes it necessary for us to review and improve primary medical and sanitary assistance. A modern view of primary medical and sanitary services will be provided at today's hearing. By joining hands in this area, we will be able to provide primary medical and sanitary services that meet the requirements of the modern healthcare system in our country to our population.