The Scientific-Advisory Council on the Health Facilitation and Disease Prevention at the Health Care and Social Issues Committee discussed the National Healthcare Strategy for 2022-2030 and the Action Plan for 2022-2024.

“Public healthcare remains a key priority of the Government. We have been through a long way since the Georgian Dream came to authority. We have undertaken quite wide-scale reforms, including the healthcare program. I believe it was one of the most significant reforms. However, deriving that it is a rapidly developing sphere, the reforms shall be updated. It requires the enhancement of the healthcare sector as it concerns the whole population and not certain segments. The greatest part of the budget is consumed on public healthcare. Besides, we need to enhance the human resources in the healthcare sector and improve the HR policy. During the pandemic, we have been once again convinced that this direction definitely requires revision and improvement. It is also important to ensure certain interferences to improve the quality of and accessibility to the medicines. The initiative of the Prime Minister on the opening of the Turkish market is very important as it will reduce the prices on medicines, which is of utmost importance as the greatest part of the expenses of the population is consumed on medicines”, - the Chair of the Committee, Dimitri Khundadze stated.

The Strategy was developed with the support of the Health Ministry and is enclosed with a detailed 3-year plan.

These documents were introduced by the First Deputy Health Minister, Tamar Gabunia.

“Since 2013, when the Government assumed to develop the universal healthcare program, the accessibility to high-quality services has been improved. The Government actively worked for 4 years in this direction, though we get closer to the fulfillment of the commitments of 2030 when the global society will estimate the progress of the countries in this direction, namely, healthcare quality, accessibility to medicines and safety of the population from the disease-related financial risks. Hence, the strategy is a key vision of the high-quality and need-adjusted healthcare services to ensure the protection of the population from the financial risks in case of the diseases”, - she stated.

The strategy aims at the improvement of the health state of the population, universal accessibility to the healthcare services and equal distribution of the financial burden allowing the rationality of the expenses.

As the reporter noted, the priorities in the document comply with the WHO recommendations, namely: enhancement of the healthcare sector; improvement of the healthcare financial system efficiency; development of human resources in the healthcare sector; accessibility to high-quality, effective and safe medicines; enhancement of healthcare management information system; enhancement of public healthcare; preparedness for health risks and improvement of the responses.

According to the WHO representative, the fact is important that public health becomes a priority in the country. He hoped that the strategy will be realized and expressed commitment to supporting in this direction.

As D. Khundadze stated, the engagement of the Parliament will be important in the strategy implementation as the improvement of the system requires legal provision and in-depth changes. The feasibility of the directions of the strategy requires updating the legal base.

The sitting was attended by MPs, representatives of the Health Ministry, Disease Control Center, WHO, professional associations, governmental organizations, NGOs, field experts and persons concerned.