Health Minister: No criteria to receive free Hepatitis C treatment
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Georgia’s Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, David Sergeenko, says all the criteria have been removed from the Hepatitis C Elimination Program meaning every person infected with Hepatitis C can get free treatment.
All obstacles and preconditions have been removed regarding free Hepatitis C treatment. If last year, in a month 700-800 patients were involved in the Hepatitis C Elimination Program, now the figure can extend to 5,000,” Sergeenko said prior to the second meeting with international experts within the Hepatitis C Elimination Program.
Sergeenko spoke positively of the treatment program and said he was happy that more people could receive free treatment to defeat the illness.
We won’t stop the program until the last patient is cured,” Sergeenko stressed.
Typically Harvoni cost €110,000 per person for one course of treatment.Photo by the Ministry of Health.
Since launching the Hepatitis C Elimination Program in April 2015 about 20,000 patients have asked for the free treatment and 9,671 were now completely cured of the illness.
Georgia had one of the highest estimated virus prevalence rates in the world, affecting 6.7 percent of the population.
Through the public-private partnership between the United States and Georgian Governments, along with American pharmaceutical firm Gilead [that provided free medicine for Georgian Hepatitis C patients], Georgia was on its way to completely eliminate the virus.
Typically Harvoni medicine sent to Georgia by Gilead cost €110,000 per person for one course of treatment.
Sergeenko met with the group of international experts on Hepatitis C today in capital Tbilisi. The group consisted of 11 leading experts from the World Health Organisation, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other prominent foreign medical institutions. The group will remain in Georgia today and tomorrow.
The experts will discuss the pace of the Hepatitis C Elimination Program and its control mechanism, as well as developing plans for the future of the program.
Twenty thousand people suffering from Hepatitis C in Georgia will receive free treatment this year and potentially enjoy 100 percent recovery thanks to an offer from American pharmaceutical firm Gilead to provide a new medicine to Georgia for free.
Georgia’s Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs Davit Sergeenko says the treatment of Hepatitis C will continue in Georgia until the virus has been eliminated from the country and all sufferers are cured.
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