The Compulsory Health Insurance Reform in Azerbaijan was summarized in a blog by the State Agency for Compulsory Health Insurance. The blog describes how for 8 years now, Azerbaijanis are visiting doctors or being treated in a hospital “without putting his/her hand in either his pocket or the pocket of the health worker”, meaning without incurring out-of-pocket costs and without having to bribe the health worker to access care.
The text below is the blog published here by the State Agency for Compulsory Health Insurance of Azerbaijan, consisting of the speech of the President of Azerbaijan and news excerpts about the 8th anniversary of the Agency.
…So, it is possible. So, it could be done. It is enough that there is a desire, transparency and the work is entrusted to honest people. We are talking about compulsory health insurance. It has been exactly 8 years that a citizen goes to the doctor’s office, is examined, and leaves the hospital without putting his hand in his pocket or the pocket of a white-collar worker. 8 years ago, when I told this to someone, they laughed, mocked and did not believe. Or it seemed like a dream, it seemed far away. It seemed to us that health insurance could only be found in Germany, Israel, and Canada. But it has been proven that we are not lagging behind others, nor are we the opposite. This work was carried out by the State Agency for Compulsory Health Insurance and also TABIB (the holding company for all publicly owned healthcare organizations). They wrote history, made a revolution in the health care of the country… They eliminated all the deformities and introduced health insurance to the people.
8 years of the Agency’s activity have already been completed. In these 8 years, activities are being carried out to organize, expand, cover more people and apply to more areas of medical services. At the event dedicated to the 8th anniversary of the agency, a wide range of topics were discussed. The Chairman of the Board of the Agency Zaur Aliyev, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors Nigar Bayramova, heads of structural units and employees took part in the event. Speaking about the development path of the agency, the members of the Management Board spoke about the importance of establishing universal medical care and the goals facing the agency. Executive Director of TABIB Vugar Gurbanov congratulated the Agency’s employees and wished them success in their work. At the event, videos reflecting the values of the Agency, as well as the impressions of employees who achieved career advancement, were shown.
In general, all this is a confirmation of protection of the health of the population, the availability of medical care for everyone which are the priority directions of the social policy carried out by President Ilham Aliyev, and the state always stands by its citizens in this matter. The State Agency for Compulsory Health Insurance was established in 2016. It is a public legal entity that ensures the implementation of compulsory health insurance in our republic, collects funds for financing medical services within the scope of services, is the recipient of healthcare services and ensures the payment of the necessary expenses related to this. The goals of the agency’s activities are to attract the population to compulsory health insurance, to collect funds for financing medical services within the scope of services, to take measures to improve the quality of medical services, to ensure the accessibility of the population to those services, to protect the rights and legal interests of the insured, from the funds collected in connection with the introduction of compulsory health insurance.
The full implementation of mandatory health insurance in our republic started in 2021, which is a social project aimed at protecting the health of the population and based on the principle of solidarity, once again confirms that people are at the center of the state policy. Not only state medical institutions, but also private hospitals became contracted medical institutions. There are services that cannot be provided by the public hospital. Therefore, contracts are signed with private medical institutions as well. Certain criteria are taken into account in the selection process of private hospitals. For example, such institutions should be hospitals that offer a wider range of services, so that the citizen can get the outpatient or inpatient medical care he/she needs.
This system will be gradually improved, and as a result, he population’s access to medical services will increase, and the infrastructure of medical institutions will improve. Seeing the successes achieved by staff who are masters of their work and most importantly justify the trust shown, one cannot help but be optimistic about the future. There is no doubt that Azerbaijan’s healthcare system will be one of the leading healthcare systems in the world in the near future. This is the expectation for the victorious and successful people. Thus, the supreme will of the state and the selfless desire to serve the people created another success story in Azerbaijan’s health care. Today, every citizen uses medical services provided with genuine caring. The State Agency for Compulsory Health Insurance fulfilled the expectations given to it with work outcomes, and managed to win the battle of innovation with obsolete practices.
