Health Minister Finds it Unacceptable to Treat Health Sector as Business
“It is unconvincing assertion that clinics in Georgia bear losses. It is unacceptable for me to consider health sector as business, even more so, as profitable business”, Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze told Imedi TV program regarding changes to the universal health program.
If clinics persuade the Health Ministry that the new tariffs are much lower compared to prime costs of services, the Ministry will agree to revise the new tariffs, Ekaterine Tikaradze noted.
“In Georgia the Health sector, namely, clinics are exempted from all taxes, unlike other business sectors. Consequently, it is less convincing that lower tariffs could lead them to losses. We have also included a table on how the tariffs have changed. Frequently, these tariffs are higher or remain unchanged. There are only several cases, when tariffs are essentially lower compared to the previous tariffs.
We have communication with these clinics, intense meetings are being held at the Ministry with directors of the clinics and we set the same request: if they submit documents for purchases over the past 2 years and show which equipment they have used and which components have brought losses, then the internal purchases of clinics will become transparent and we will have enough grounds to revise the decision and this or that price”, Ekaterine Tikaradze said.
The Health Ministry has access to the customs service data that comprise information on imports of medical equipment, namely their prices, the Minister said.
Ekaterine Tikaradze has also talked about selective contracts in health sector:
“As part of selective contracts, we have already examined which facilities meet the Ministry requirements and standards. We have also explored a distribution of beds at these clinics, their staff and so on. We analyze all components so as patients remain within the continuous chain of services from entering to leaving a clinic”, the Health Minister noted.