Universal Health Program Should Be Improved. The Process is in Progress
Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) and Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) have prepared a report covering the current situation in the Georgian healthcare sector. According to the document, over the past decade, from 2011 to 2018, various reforms were carried out in the Georgian healthcare sector and the number of clinics rose to 273 from 229.
Frequently, excessive medical infrastructure was developed without a public need, as a result of a poorly thought out universal healthcare program. The key problem is that program budget is growing on an annual basis.
The Caucasus Business Week (CBW) has made inquiries with Akaki Zoidze, the former head of the parliament’s healthcare committee, and Lado Kakhadze, the Deputy Head of the committee, apprise this report, which is called “New Healthcare Reform - The Correct or Incorrect Steps”.
As noted by Akaki Zoidze, the former head of the Parliament’s Committee for Healthcare and social issues and a former member of Georgian Dream, this is a weak document with incoherent recommendations and conclusions.
“At a glance, the is a correct analysis, the indicators are also provided, but the conclusions are very pretentious. Unilateral, incompetent and very superficial! Interpretations are unilateral; consequently, conclusions are ungrounded. Some conclusions are right, others not so much. I have reiterated many times that today, we have an excessive number of clinics, and we lack doctors and nurses, and this is a major problem in the healthcare sector. I think this was a unilateral conclusion”, Akaki Zoidze noted.
Dimitri Khundadze, the current chairman of the committee, has not answered the CBW phone calls. Unlike Khundadze, his assistant Lado Kakhadze has answered our call. The Georgian Dream’s member says that he does not know the research published by KAS EPRC economic arena, however, he says that the universal healthcare program is being improved at this stage,
“Before 2012, healthcare costs were at 320 million GEL. After Georgian Dream came to power, the universal healthcare program budget exceeded 1 billion GEL. Our citizens used to face various problems and today, they are not alone. Naturally, the universal healthcare program should be improved, and the process is underway. The problems with costs, efficiency and many other issues will be resolved. The allocations are to resolve problems in a timely manner, and with high quality. We may spend 10 times the amount of money, and receive lower-quality services.
The main thing is that the primary healthcare chain is being improved. Medicine is a science, not only a pragmatic field. Differentiation is required here. Perfection is a constant process. The main thing is that state healthcare pays a lot of attention to social issues”, Lado Kakhadze noted.
We remind you that in 2012, the total budget of the healthcare programs, including health insurance, was at 332 million GEL. The budget of healthcare program grows on an annual basis, and the budget exceeded 1 billion GEL in 2019, of which 70% was spent on universal healthcare programs. The economic research published by KAS EPRC has primarily analyzed the advantages and shortcomings of the universal healthcare program. A focus was also placed on resolution N520, that calls to even the cost of services under the universal healthcare program.