Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia spoke of the proposed changes to the government-led health insurance programme with the heads of various hospitals earlier today.
PM Gakharia said the programme should first of all focus on the needs of citizens and, therefore, the current system needs to further develop to become more efficient.
Considering the healthcare reform as one of the most successful in recent years, PM Gakharia said it is important to preserve and improve its results and discuss every possible challenge.
If there are problems, we are ready to discuss”, PM Gakharia said.
For us, it is utmost important to ensure effectiveness of the universal healthcare system, otherwise, it cannot develop further”, he added.
Heads of various hospitals have been discontent with the proposed changes aimed at providing all clinics involved in the universal healthcare programme with equal funding from the state budget and then to offer services to their beneficiaries at a price set by the government.
Following the meeting with PM, which was also attended by Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze, a decision was made to establish a working group that would deal with the price gap and fix it.
Introduction of universal health insurance was one of the election promises of current ruling party back in 2012. This programme came into force a few months after the parliamentary elections on February 28, 2013.
Thanks to the programme, state-sponsored health insurance became available on a massive scale to people who would not otherwise be able to afford it.