Media Review for December 25, 2019

The level of medical care, the compliance of education with market requirements, and an expert look at Azerbaijan’s entry into the WTO are topics of current media.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the level of health care in the country and about the successful implementation of the state program for mass medical examination of citizens. The author also recalls the amendments to the Law on Health Insurance, according to which compulsory health insurance has been applied in the country since 2020.

The article also recalls pilot projects on compulsory medical insurance, covering 340 thousand people. About 30 thousand internally displaced persons under the basic package are provided with free medical care. Over the past 15 years, 640 hospitals and medical facilities have been built and repaired. More than 5 million people annually undergo a medical examination in the state line.

The website Yeni Sabah.az discusses the level of education in the country with expert Kamran Asadov. The world has already moved to the 4th level of the industrial revolution, and Azerbaijan is still at the 2nd level - the level of electrification.

The fourth level is the era of smart technologies, to which Azerbaijan is still far away. Today, universities are not able to train personnel for 5 years in advance. “Our universities train personnel not for 2020, but for 1950,” the expert said.

The Bizimyol.info website writes about the reasons for Azerbaijan’s non-accession to the WTO. Opinions were divided on this issue. Pro-government economists believe that the time for joining the WTO has not come, and those who think more independently think that the country will benefit from joining the WTO.

The economist Gubad Ibadoglu talks about the WTO rules that must be respected. As of July 2018, the WTO had 164 members. The last country to join the WTO was Afghanistan (July 2016). Another 22 countries are in the process of joining this organization.