Tbilisi Central Hospital dismisses allegations of operation carried out by unlicensed doctors

Tbilisi Central Hospital has dismissed the allegations of Georgia’s Prosecutor’s Office that a patient was operated on by unlicensed doctors in the hospital back in 2018. 

The director of Tbilisi Central Hospital was detained yesterday, as well as a doctor of the same hospital, Vakhtang Kipiani, for misuse of authority, fraudulence and illegal medical practice.

The Prosecutor's Office also stated that a third individual in the case, identified as Magda Khocholava, is on the run and has been charged in absentia. 

The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office said that Kipaini and Khocholava, without having a license in traumatology, operated on a 23-year-old female patient back in 2018 twice and the patient has been in coma ever since.

Kipiani misled the family of the patient into thinking the first operation in the summer of 2018 would be conducted by Italian doctors. However, he himself conducted the operation with the assistance of Khocholava,” said the Prosecutor’s Office, adding that the second operation in September of 2018 was also conducted by Kipiani and Khocholava, without the presence of Italian doctors. 

The hospital says that the patient suffered from a tumor formation in the leg and the first operation was conducted by the group of Georgian and Italian doctors, under supervision of a ‘well-known Italian doctor (Roberto Agaci), as we have had a close cooperation with Italian doctors over the past three years.’ 

The statement released by the hospital says that Kipiani is a ‘well-known, licensed specialist in radiology with more than 15 years of experience’, while Khocholava was licensed in Italy as an anesthesiologist and works both in Italy and Georgia.  

Khocholava works in a well-known clinic in Italy and a statement that she is on the run is absolutely groundless,” said the hospital. 

The hospital says that the first operation in the summer was successful and the second operation was needed for the complete recovery of the patient. 

The second operation was not conducted at all as the Prosecutor's Office says as the situation got completed after anesthesia,” said the hospital. 

The hospital says that all the charges against the head of the clinic and its doctors are groundless.