Free Hepatitis C, HIV and Tuberculosis test available in seven Georgian regions
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili taking the test. Photo: President's press office.
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Residents of seven Georgian regions will be provided with free Hepatitis C, HIV and Tuberculosis tests starting today.
Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia said today that the project was first initiated in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and the other six regions were added this year.
The regions where the free tests are available are:
- Adjara
- Kakheti
- Imereti
- Guria
- Racha-Lechkhum-Kvemo Svaneti
- Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili took the free medical test in Gurjaani, Kakheti.
Deputy Minister Gabunia stated that the Hepatitis C elimination programme is a priority for the Georgian government.
More than 164,000 people have been provided with the test in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti while the number exceeds 144,000 in the region of Adjara.
Additional medical examinations and treatment are also available for free in case any of the three diseases is detected.
In partnership with the American company Gilead, Georgia launched a large-scale Hepatitis C Elimination Program in 2015. The program aims to make Georgia a Hepatitis C-free country by 2020.
Approximately 125,000 people have undergone treatment as part of the Hepatitis C elimination programme. The latest recovery rate is 98,2 %.
Earlier in April, the Ministry of Health of Georgia was awarded a certificate of an exemplary country combating Hepatitis C by the European Association for the Study of the Liver and International Liver Foundation in Austria.
Georgian Health Minister David Sergeenko says there is a risk the country’s Hepatitis C elimination programme may come to an end.
The Ministry of Health of Georgia has been awarded a certificate of an exemplary country combating Hepatitis C by the European Association for the Study of the Liver and International Liver Foundation in Austria.
Around 45,000 people have gone through medical treatment for Hepatitis C in Georgia, 98 percent of which were cured, the head of Georgia’s National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze said.
In about five years from now, Georgia will be a Hepatitis C-free country thanks to a unique treatment program which was introduced today.
The diagnostic tests, which are necessary to enroll in Georgia's Hepatitis C elimination programme, will be available for free. Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze recently said that the diagnostic tests cost about 140–360 GEL.
Gilead, the US company providing free Hepatitis C medicines to Georgia since 2015, has stated that the expiration of Hepatitis C medicine worth 560,645,083 GEL ($194 million USD) is not ‘unusual.’
Georgia’s progress in eliminating hepatitis C was in focus of health minister Zurab Azarashvili’s address to an event at the United Nations general assembly on Tuesday, the Georgian health ministry said.