Tag Archives: health

Helicopter crash kills 5 in southern Kazakhstan

JAN. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A helicopter carrying a sick child to hospital crashed in a canyon in southern Kazakhstan killing all five people aboard, media reported quoting the Kazakh emergency services. It was unclear what caused the crash. Kazakhstan has a poor safety record for helicopters. A few days earlier another two-person helicopter had also crashed in southern Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Swine flu deaths rise in Armenia

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s health ministry said that 18 people had died in the past two months from the H1N1 strain of swine flu, media reported, up from an earlier death toll of 10. The health ministry denied that the deaths had reached epidemic proportions but neighbouring countries have also started to report deaths linked to swine flu.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

First Armenian leader gets ill

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first leader of post-Soviet Armenia, has been flown to the United States for emergency treatment on what local media have described as a cancer. Mr Ter-Petrosyan, 71, was president of Armenia between 1991 and 1998. He has since become a vocal opponent of the government and was blamed for whipping up street protests in 2008 that culminated in police shooting dead at least 10 people.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Turkmen officials burn cigarettes

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen officials burnt piles of cigarettes in another indication that the reclusive state is on the brink of an outright ban on smoking, the AP news agency reported. Earlier this month, AFP reported that officials had told storekeepers to remove cigarettes from their shelves. President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is known to hate smoking.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Turkmenistan starts to ban cigarettes

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen officials have started pulling cigarettes off shops’ shelves in what appears to be a draconian attempt to effectively ban smoking altogether.

In Ashgabat, an AFP correspondent interviewed a shopkeeper who said that officials had recently ordered him to stop selling cigarette or face a heavy fine.

“(They) came to our shop recently and forced us to remove cigarettes from the shelves, threatening us with huge fines,” 34-year-old Bairam Saryev said.

Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is known for his eccentricity. He is a former dentist and hates smoking. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has praised his efforts to discourage smokers by banning smoking in all public buildings, parks and offices as well as cigarette advertising.

Last year WHO said only 8% of Turkmenistan’s population smoked, the lowest of any country.

The Turkmen government has not published any official announcement on whether it will ban smoking altogether.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Editorial: Turkmenistan’s final puff

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – By all accounts, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan, is a very particular man.

He likes to be a winner, making sure that he wins horse races held in Turkmenistan each year. He likes, and appreciates, statues of himself which have started appearing in Ashgabat. He likes, far more than his predecessor, foreign travel.

He doesn’t like poor performing officials and he especially doesn’t like smoking. At least that’s the impression he has given.

Mr Berdymukhamedov has taken it upon himself to eradicate smoking, it appears. According to news reports he has banned smoking in almost all public places and has stopped shops from selling cigarettes.

This is, surely, a shame as lighting up a ciggie at the end of a day is a simple pleasure that had been available in Turkmenistan, a country not known for its personal freedoms.

Still, there may be one upside for smokers in Turkmenistan. The illegal cigarette behind the bike shed may come come back in vogue.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

11 die from swine flu in Armenia

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – At least 11 people have died of H1N1 Swine Flu in Armenia, media reported quoting the ministry of health. The ministry of health said that this did not equate to an epidemic, although there are another 80 people in prison suffering from the flu. Swine flu worries governments around the world because it can spread and has previously triggered epidemics.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Uzbekistan receives Aids grant

DEC. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Global Fund to Help Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has given Uzbekistan a grant of nearly $14m, media reported . Uzbekistan has one of the fastest growing rates of aids in the world.

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(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

Georgian budget increases

NOV. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament approved an increase of 96m lari ($40m) in next year’s budget to improve healthcare. The extra cash will be used by the ministry of health to bring in its universal healthcare programme. Introducing universal healthcare is a key policy of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition.

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(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Georgia tweaks budget to boost health

NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government wants to tweak the national budget for a second time this year to increase funding for one of its key policies — creating an improved universal health care system.

Finance minister Nodar Khaduri said that increased revenue from tax and a reduction in the regional aid budget would pay for the increase in health care spending.

Earlier this year, the ruling Georgian Dream government submitted a budget which included a drop in revenue raised by taxes, a fall it linked to a regional economic downturn. That thinking has now changed.

The universal healthcare that the Georgian government wants to build is one of their headline policies. It will now absorb around 16% of the health ministry’s total budget.

“It is a successful program and many people apply to use it,” media quoted Mr Khaduri as saying. “So it became necessary to add funds to this program.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)