Tbilisi gov't funds costly treatment for 20 cancer patients

This year Tbilisi local government will fund vital medical treatment for a group of people living with cancer.

Tbilisi City Hall announced it would cover the myriad of costs related to certain treatments including expensive bone marrow transplant treatment for cancer sufferers.

Tbilisi City Hall launched a new program that will finance the treatment of 20 patients with leukaemia or other oncologic diseases in 2015.

Tbilisi Mayor Davit Narmania said the first patient had already received their funding and they would travel to Istanbul, Turkey to get a bone marrow transplant on February 9.

Narmania said through this action he was "fulfilling the promises” he gave to Tbilisi citizens during his election campaign and was implementing new health programs for the benefit of those who lived in Tbilisi.

He noted the program beneficiaries would be selected based on the severity of their illness.