Georgian PM visits Rukhi hospital in country’s west

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday inspected Rukhi hospital in the country’s western Zugdidi municipality in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, where medical services were made accessible to locals starting today.

Kobakhidze highlighted the importance of the newly purchased magnetic resonance imaging machine, stating it “enhances the hospital’s resources”.

This hospital can compete with any clinic in the region, its resources are gradually developing much more. It has wonderful medical staff and of course, efforts for its [hospital’s] improvement will further continue. It is vital that this hospital also receives patients from [the Russian-occupied territory] Abkhazia [region], including patients who are ethnic Abkhazians”, he said.

The latest magnetic resonance imaging machine, which provides high-quality and rapid imaging detection of small lesions for early diagnosis, is available at the medical facility, the Government Administration said.

The facility also has an oncology department where patients undergo chemotherapy procedures, with 107 oncology patients, who were able to benefit from these services last month.

The catheterisation laboratory was also upgraded with an ALLIA IGS 530 model angiography device, valued at ₾2.15 million ($793,370).

At the hospital, the angiography system allows to serve emergency cardiology patients, coronary angiography and coronary stand, as well as neurosurgical and neurosurgical needs.  

The hospital’s location in the village of Rukhi, about a kilometre away from Enguri Bridge, which connects Russian-occupied Abkhazia with the rest of Georgia, also allows it to serve citizens from the country’s occupied region.