Georgian PM rejects “misinformation” on Tbilisi's Central Republican Hospital, vows employees will retain jobs, salary

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday rejected “misinformation” around Tbilisi's Central Republican Hospital and vowed all employees of the city’s major healthcare venue would retain their jobs, following a letter by professionals of the institution that raised an alarm about the Government’s possible plans for “demolishing” the Hospital.

Garibashvili’s remarks followed an open letter by the employees who last week addressed the country’s Minister of Health for clarifications about plans for the venue, after Zurab Azarashvili told Rustavi 2 channel the Hospital required a “complete rehabilitation” to solve its existing issues with infrastructure.

The comments sparked a concern among the employees of the major venue who, in their letter, raised the prospect of the plans leading to over 1,000 professionals being left unemployed.

In his response, Garibashvili said “[n]ot a single employee of the Republican Hospital will be left jobless”, and claimed “a lot of misinformation” and “deliberate lies [and] propaganda” had been released around the matter in the recent days.

The PM said his Government had a “good vision” of how to develop the Hospital, with Azarashvili expected to present a relevant plan “in a few days”.

We are talking about building a new hospital in the same place and not in another place, and of course we will keep all the employees. There is no reason [...] to be agitated [by the issue]”, Garibashvili concluded.