Stage 2 of healthcare reform starts:
Higher quality, better support for Georgian public

Georgia's Ministry of Health is launching the second stage of the healthcare reform to ensure healthcare services in Georgia are of a higher quality, are more affordable, more accessible and offer greater support to those who really need it.

At today's Governmental meeting Georgia's Prime Minister announced the Ministry of Health had planned the second stage reform of the Universal Healthcare Program.

Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said the Universal Healthcare Program, which launched in 2013 under the Georgian Dream Government, was a "huge relief for the people of Georgia and one of the most successful reforms” the country had undertaken. 

Today we are launching a new stage where the program should be more focused on demand-based, higher-quality service,” said Kvirikashvili. 

Georgia’s Health Minister David Sergeenko explained the country's healthcare system was based on three key principles; availability, quality and price.

He said since the Universal Healthcare Program launched several years ago, the availability of a wide range of health services had "very much increased”. 

Georgia’s Health Minister David Sergeenko (R ) announced all certified medical institutions won’t act as providers for the Universal Healthcare Program. Photo by the Health Ministry's press office. 

The Minister said in order to provide higher medical services for the people of Georgia, from next year the Ministry of Health planned to produce a renewed data base that showed the people with and without private insurance. 

Currently there are cases where someone has private insurance and they also use state financing through the Universal Healthcare Program. The state will now support the people who need the help more,” Sergeenko said. 

This meant people with high incomes or those who had private health insurance will not be eligible to benefit from the Universal Healthcare Program. 

In addition, all certified medical institutions in Georgia would no longer automatically be providers of state-funded healthcare and the Ministry would "very carefully select provider institutions to ensure those who used the state healthcare program can get state support”.

Previously all certified clinics and hospitals were providers within the Universal Healthcare Program but several didn't adequately fulfil their obligations. 

"We won’t cooperate with these medical institutions in the future,” Sergeenko stressed.