Medical facilities, doctors banned from practice for illegally issuing psychotropic prescriptions

The Regulation Agency for Medical and Pharmaceutical Activities of the Georgian Health Ministry on Saturday said three medical facilities and doctors were suspended from operating for illegally issuing strong psychotropic drug prescriptions without any medical examination in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi and the eastern city of Gori.

As the Agency established, the medical institutions had issued 3,457 psychotropic medication prescriptions, which was an “unprecedented number”, making up approximately 50 percent of the total number of prescriptions issued in the country.

It also said the doctors had prescribed an “excessive dose” of psychotropic drugs, violating “all treatment protocols and guidelines” and causing “significant damage” to patients’ health. 

As a result of the study of the medical documentation of thousands of patients, it has been established that the director and medical staff of the clinics acted dishonestly, causing “irreparable harm” to the lives and health of patients and promoting the “illegal and uncontrolled” circulation of powerful psychotropic drugs in the country, the body said, adding all three institutions had one owner and the same medical staff. 

The court banned the activities of all three medical institutions, the director and the three doctors, based on the request of the Agency.  

It also said the case was sent to the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor's Office and the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance.