Adequate Medical Care – Patient’s Right

The Georgian health care system faces significant challenges.  Courageous reform moves have been made for decades.  Both providing and funding medical services are moving to private hands.  The developing health industry puts the availability of health care in danger, increases medical service costs, puts the quality of medical care and respectively the safety of patients to a particular risk.

Every citizen (each of us) at different stages of his/her life needs to get medical care.  As a rule, this happens when they are in the most vulnerable condition.  Therefore it is crucially important to protect a person at this very moment, i.e. to secure an adequate and good quality service.

On November 30, results of the study titled ‘Adequate Medical Service – Patient’s Right’ were unveiled.  Open Society Georgia Foundation provided funding for the event.  Several medical institutions took part in the research, which aimed to find out whether specific medical examinations, procedures or services match patient’s needs.  All the issues raise doubts very often and this happens in both directions.  Sometimes too many tests, treatments and manipulations are provided, while at other times, we face a lack of medical intervention.

The research has revealed the following problems:

• Weak regulation (contracts);
• Unreliable information environment and variable standards of management.