Georgian Health Minister: Hepatitis C programme may end in 2020
Approximately 125,000 people have undergone treatment within the framework of the C hepatitis elimination program. The latest recovery rate is 98,2 %. Photo: WHO
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Georgian Health Minister David Sergeenko says the country’s Hepatitis C elimination programme may come to an end.
The reason the programme may end is that less people are involved in the programme than was expected.
The goals of elimination are defined up to 2020, nonetheless a longer contract has been signed with pharmaceutical company that supplies us with medicines”, stated Sergeenko.
Davit Sergeenko during the sixth National Working Meeting on Hepatitis C elimination. Photo: NCDC.
A lot of things will depend on how many people will be involved in the programme. However, I cannot confirm whether the program will stop or not, but the risk is there”, Sergeenko stated earlier today during the government’s sixth working meeting on Hepatitis C elimination.
According to the latest reports, overall approximately 125,000 people have undergone treatment within the framework of the Hepatitis C elimination program. The latest recovery rate is 98,2 %.
Once again I ask everyone to use this opportunity. The goal is for 90% of people to be involved in screening and 95% of the involved people to recover. Now we have approximately 50,000 people who need the treatment, they are patients with early stage disease and are not suffering from symptoms, so they are less involved in the programme”, stated Sergeenko.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has stated that he is sure that Georgia will be become one of the first states worldwide which will manage to completely eradicate Hepatitis C.
Patients with fourth stage breast cancer will receive Perjeta and Herceptin, a targeted therapy for breast cancer, with an 80% discount starting from 2019, announces the Minister of Health Davit Sergeenko.
The programme to eliminate Hepatitis C is expanding in Georgia. In addition to medical institutions, screening will now also available at Public Service Halls.
Around 45,000 people have gone through medical treatment for Hepatitis C in Georgia, 98 percent of which were cured, the head of Georgia’s National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze said.
The Ministry of Health of Georgia has been awarded a certificate of an exemplary country combating Hepatitis C by the European Association for the Study of the Liver and International Liver Foundation in Austria.
Georgian Health Minister David Sergeenko has resigned after seven years in post, and has been appointed as Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze’s advisor in health and labour issues. Ekaterine Tikaradze, who headed Sachkhere Regional Hospital and non-commercial legal entity Dostakari, will replace him in the role.
Residents of seven Georgian regions will be provided with free Hepatitis C, HIV and Tuberculosis tests starting today. Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia said today that the project was first initiated in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and the other six regions were added this year.
Gilead, the US company providing free Hepatitis C medicines to Georgia since 2015, has stated that the expiration of Hepatitis C medicine worth 560,645,083 GEL ($194 million USD) is not ‘unusual.’