Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection

The Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection (Armenian: Մոր և մանկան առողջության պահպանման գիտահետազոտական կենտրոն), widely known as the Margaryan Maternity Hospital (Մարգարյան ծննդատուն), is a state medical institution and research center in Yerevan, Armenia. It is one of the country's oldest medical establishments, founded in 1931 as the Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, and it has operated from its landmark building on Mashtots Avenue since the late 1930s. The institution combines clinical maternity care, women's health services, reproductive medicine, and scientific research, and it is also listed as an architectural monument of Armenia. The center's origins lie in the 1931 creation of the Yerevan Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, which had two main divisions — maternity and infancy. Its purpose-built hospital building was designed by architects Nikolai Buniatyan and Mark Grigoryan in the Stalinist neoclassical style and completed in 1937, with the maternity hospital beginning operations in 1938. Over the following decades the institution was reorganized: the maternity division became the Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, while the infancy division became a clinic attached to the Medical Institute. The institute moved fully into the new building in 1950. The hospital is popularly named after Partev Ambartsumovich Markaryan, who directed the institute from 1949 to 1973 and is its best-known leader; during the Soviet era it officially bore the name of Krupskaya. Other directors have included Grigor Areshyan (1931–1949), Grigory Okoev (1973–1989 and again from 1999), and Karlen Akunts (1989–1999). In 1989 the institute was renamed the Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection, the name it retains today. The center has long been a leading research and clinical hub for childbirth in Armenia. It established several specialized units, including the Republican Medical Genetics Center, the Republican Center for Perinatal Diagnostics, and centers for scientific methodology and barotherapy. It was the first institution in Armenia to introduce in vitro fertilization, achieving its first successful IVF pregnancies in 2003 through cooperation with French specialists, with births in 2004. A scientific library has operated at the center since 1933, and research is guided by a Scientific Council with expert, pre-defense, and ethics committees, including cooperation with the World Health Organization. Today the center presents itself as a comprehensive maternity and women's health provider, offering pregnancy care, women's health services, and assisted reproductive technologies such as egg donation, surrogacy, and sperm donation. It runs public-facing programs including a School of Motherhood and patient information resources, and it communicates with patients through its official website, morevmankan.am.

The institution that became the Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection was founded in Yerevan in 1931 as the Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, with two main divisions — maternity and infancy. It needed a modern maternity hospital building in the city center, and its history became intertwined with a stalled government construction project. In the early 1930s, Yerevan's chief architect Nikolai Buniatyan had won a commission to build a new government building next to the former State Bank building, designed with a young colleague, Mark Grigoryan. Their project was ready by 1932, but Alexander Tamanian, author of the city's general plan and the most influential architect in Soviet Armenia, opposed it because it would disrupt his concept of concentrating government buildings around Lenin Square. Construction was frozen at the basement level at the end of 1932. In 1935 it was decided to revive the Buniatyan–Grigoryan project and convert the building into a maternity hospital, with Grigoryan supervising the completion. The building was finished in 1937 and the maternity hospital began operating in 1938. By then the original institute had been reorganized: the maternity sector became the Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the infancy sector became a clinic attached to the Medical Institute. The Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology occupied the building and was led until 1949 by the well-known gynecologist Grigor Akopovich Areshyan. In 1949 he was succeeded by Partev Ambartsumovich Markaryan, who directed the institute until 1973 and became its most famous leader; the hospital is popularly called the "Markaryan maternity hospital," although in Soviet times it officially bore the name of Krupskaya. The institute moved fully into the new building only in 1950. Over the following three decades, the institute spawned numerous specialized medical and scientific organizations, including the Republican Medical Genetics Center, the Republican Center for Perinatal Diagnostics, Republican centers for scientific methodology and barotherapy, and a regional center for artificial fertilization. In 1989 the Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology was renamed the Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection, the name it still uses. Its directors after Markaryan were Grigory Georgievich Okoev (1973–1989), Karlen Bagratovich Akunts (1989–1999), and Georgy Grigoryevich Okoev (from 1999). Throughout its existence the institute was a leading research center for childbirth in Armenia and was equipped with advanced technology. In 1977 the first ultrasound machine in Soviet Armenia was imported from England and installed there. In Soviet years the wives and daughters of nearly all party and state officials gave birth at this hospital. It also became the first institution in Armenia to perform in vitro fertilization: through cooperation with French specialists, Armenian doctors achieved their first successes in 2003, registering two pregnancies that ended in successful births in 2004, one of them triplets. A scientific library has operated at the center since 1933 and has grown into a modern medical library with internet access and literature in various languages. Scientific activity is directed by a Scientific Council with expert, pre-defense, and ethics committees, and research is conducted in international cooperation with the WHO and other institutions. The building itself is a prominent example of Stalinist neoclassical architecture and was included in the list of immovable monuments of history and culture of Yerevan by decree No. 377 of the Council of Ministers of the Armenian SSR of July 4, 1983. It has a symmetrical plan: two side wings along Aram Street and Mashtots Avenue are joined by a central semicircular volume with a projecting lower floor and a three-arched main entrance. The second and third floors of the semicircular part are recessed and plastered with cement mortar, with semicircular facets faced in tufa. An oval vestibule in the central rotunda leads via ceremonial staircases to the upper floors; the staircases were added later, when Grigory Okoev headed the hospital. The hospital was originally designed for 100 beds. The main volume is faced in unpolished "fur-like" tufa. In 1982 a "Motherhood" composition of four sculptures by Yuri Minasyan was installed along the facade on Aram Street. In the early 1980s, when fathers were not allowed into the wards, a loudspeaker in the reception area announced the name of the woman in labor and the weight, height, and other data of the newborn to waiting fathers and relatives.

• 2004

  First IVF births, including a set of triplets.

• 2003

  First successful IVF pregnancies registered through cooperation with French specialists.

• 1989

  Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology renamed Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection.

• 1983

  Building included in the list of immovable monuments of history and culture of Yerevan by decree No. 377.

• 1982

  "Motherhood" sculpture composition by Yuri Minasyan installed along the Aram Street facade.

• 1977

  First ultrasound machine in Soviet Armenia imported from England and installed.

• 1950

  Institute moves fully into the new building.

• 1949

  Partev Markaryan becomes director, serving until 1973; hospital later popularly named after him.

• 1938

  Maternity hospital begins operating.

• 1937

  Building completed in Stalinist neoclassical style.

• 1935

  Decision to revive the project and convert the building into a maternity hospital.

• 1933

  Scientific library established at the center.

• 1932

  Buniatyan–Grigoryan government building project completed but frozen at basement level due to Tamanian's opposition.

• 1931

  Institute for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood founded in Yerevan with maternity and infancy divisions.

Armenia's oldest and most prominent state maternity and maternal-child health research institution, combining clinical care with scientific research.

• Maternity and childbirth services

  Clinical maternity care at the Margaryan Maternity Hospital.

• In vitro fertilization (IVF)

  Assisted reproductive technology first introduced in Armenia at this center.

• Egg donation, surrogacy, sperm donation

  Reproductive services listed on the center's official website.

• Perinatal diagnostics and medical genetics

  Specialized centers created on the institute's base.

• School of Motherhood

  Educational program for couples, pregnant women, and postpartum women.

1. 1«ՄԱՐԳԱՐՅԱՆ ԾՆՆԴԱՏՈՒՆ» Մոր և մանկան առողջության պահպանման գիտահետազոտական կենտրոն / Գլխավորmorevmankan.am
2. 2Research Center of Maternal and Child Health Protection — Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Научно-исследовательский центр охраны здоровья матери и ребёнка (Ереван) — Википедияru.wikipedia.org