The State Committee for the Affairs of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, The Ministry of Health, “Management Union of Medical Territorial Units” (TABIB), Public Health and Reforms Center (ISIM), “Saghlam Aila” Medical Center and “Facemark” company co-organized the Healthcare Management Summit for the first time. The event was attended by representatives of central executive authorities, public and private medical institutions.

The Great Return was one of the panel discussion topics at the Healthcare Management Summit. Several international organizations and applicable state institutions participated in a panel discussion regarding the steps taken to protect the health of internally displaced people living in makeshift settlements and in areas that have been declared free of occupation, as well as to offer them access to medical care.

In his opening remarks, Fuad Huseynov, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Affairs of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, stated that the country’s leadership have always placed a high priority on safeguarding the health of refugees and internally displaced people as well as attending to their medical needs. Mr. President Ilham Aliyev prioritizes these concerns in his social policy, and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva also oversees the provision of comprehensive and superior health services to internally displaced people and refugees.

One of the State Committee’s most significant initiatives over the past five years has been the planning of medical campaigns to safeguard the health of internally displaced people. The Ministry of Health made sure that big medical teams were involved in these initiatives, including mobile medical examinations in hospitals and temporary settlements, at the committee’s request. The measures helped thousands of IDPs. Additionally, five first aid trainings for internally displaced people were organized and led by the State Committee, with assistance from the Ministry of Defense, the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society (AzRCS), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The training program covered first aid and its basic principles, initial testing, personal safety and scene assessment, examination and recovery of victims, and demonstration of practical burn first aid skills. The Japanese company “Fuji Optical Co. Ltd”, with the support of the State Committee, has been conducting a vision testing and glasses distribution campaign in Azerbaijan every year since 2005.

It was claimed that a number of significant tasks were established for the creation of an infrastructure of high-quality and easily accessible medical services in residential areas under the Action Plan of the I State Program on the Great Return to the territories freed from occupation. The State Committee is listed as one of the various executive institutions in the Action Plan, which designates the Ministry of Health as the primary executive for the psycho-social rehabilitation of returnees, including the initial medical assessment of the individuals to be relocated. Furthermore, TABIB and the State Committee signed a memorandum on joint cooperation. In the area of activities concerning to the return to territories liberated from occupation, the memorandum outlines the framework of cooperation and coordination processes for the construction and development of mutually beneficial, long-term, effective partnerships with internally displaced people. Currently, TABIB arranges for general medical examinations of individuals returning to liberated territory, and children receive vaccinations against a variety of infectious diseases in accordance with the approved Vaccination Schedule.

Orkhan Jabrayil, the director of Lachin District Central Hospital, discussed the projects based on the “I State Program on the Great Return” that will be carried out in the future as well as the work completed thus far in the direction of building health care in the territories liberated from occupation at the Health Management Summit.