Jandacva.ge
The Georgian government has identified implementation of Primary Healthcare in the country as its priority with its healthcare reform.
Apart from Primary Healthcare, the reform entails the Hepatitis C Elimination Program and the establishment of the Universal Healthcare System in the country.
The Ministry of Labor Health and Social Affaris of Georgia has already started active cooperation on Primary Healthcare with the international healthcare consulting firm “Global Alliance.”
So far, the government says that Primary Healthcare represents a revitalization of the family doctor institute and the sophistication of preventive medicine in the country. The reform will directly affect the practicing doctors as well as ordinary citizens.
Political scientist Vakhtang Maissaia, names three main directions that are necessary for a successful implementation of the healthcare reform:
“I am new to this subject matter, but I know from personal experience just how important it is to have a family doctor. This is the figure who takes most active part in the preventive medical measures for his or her immediate patients.
Personally, I think Georgia should follow Belgium’s model in Universal Healthcare. It is not necessary for the government to finance every patient. Belgium has a very good healthcare system. They have government insurance companies that assist socially unprotected individuals or citizens with low incomes. These insurance companies are created specifically for such Belgian citizens.
The Georgian government should also create such an insurance company (two or three of them would be even better), which will work mainly in this direction. Their insurance will be tailored for socially unprotected individuals.
The family doctor will be the professional who sends this or that patient to such an insurance company to finance the treatment. So, this will be a complex system that will work by active cooperation between its constituent parts.
There are three main components that will turn the Georgian healthcare reform into a success story:Family Doctor, Universal Healthcare, State Insurance Companies. If Georgia is indeed part of the Eastern Partnership and aspires to join the EU, we cannot do this without having a functional healthcare system in the country.”
