Everything started more than 10 years ago, during a lunch at the Columbian university (USA). It was then when Armenian doctor Gevorg Yaghdjyan, while sitting at the table with executive director of the Fund for Armenian Relief Garnik Nanagulyan, neurosurgeon and deputy chairman of the Fund Edgar Hovsepian and a member of the Board of Directors of the Fund Annette Chulfayan, said it would be great if they could start a training program for doctors from the regions of Armenia and establish a network of Armenian doctors.

Today this program, sponsored by the Fund for Armenian Relief, celebrates its 10th anniversary.

“I even remember what we ordered for lunch, since I didn’t even eat anything. It was fish. They ate and I talked, but soon they became so fascinated by the idea that they also stopped eating. So the dish remained on the table,” said Gevorg Yaghdjyan during his speech at the celebration event that took part at the Republican Scientific Medical Library.

Executive director of the Fund Garnik Nanagulyan also remembers that day and everything that happened next. He knew that one needs to have a reliable “roof” to start any business in Armenia, so soon after the lunch they started searching for a “roof.” And they found it -- Ara Babloyan, now the chairman of the permanent parliamentary commission on healthcare, agreed to help them.

In his turn Ara Babloyan mentioned that the ideas for the medical program of the Fund will be implemented in the new law on healthcare, which is now discussed in the parliament.

So what did they achieve in these 10 years? According to the coordinator of health programs of the Fund Hambardzum Simonian, about 600 specialists from the regions of Armenia, Karabakh and Javakhk participated in training programs. Maybe it’s not a huge number, but each of these trained doctors plays a serious role in his region. Besides, a network of doctors that cooperate with each other has really been established in Armenia.

Members of the Alumni Association of the medical programs of the Fund presented to the library the picture of Ararat Sargsyan, "Alphabet."