Thousands vie to adopt one of 20 children

Three thousand applications by Georgian citizens have been submitted to adopt a child but there are only 20 children available for adoption.

Potential parents might wait for years before their application was successful; "but it makes things easier when they show their readiness to adopt a child with a physical defect, Health Minister Davit Sergeenko said.

"Although it is good that in Georgia not many mothers leave their children, he added.

Selective abortion is another big problem, the Minister claimed.

He said there were many cases where women terminated their pregnancies after learning their babies were females.

The Health Minister believed forbidding abortions would not solve the problem. Instead, this would promote illegal abortions, which could cause serious danger for pregnant mothers, he claimed.

"I hope we will manage to create an efficient strategy but I ask all of you, every member of society, to support us, Sergeenko said.

There were about 40000 registered abortions last year however the Minister believed the actual number was much higher.