Rati Ionatamishvili, Chair of the Human Rights Protection and Civil Integration Committee, participated in the first meeting of the Coordinating Council for the Implementation of the Biopsychosocial Model.

The Council’s primary objective is to strengthen intersectoral cooperation and support the large-scale reforms that stem directly from the Law of Georgia on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The reform of the system for granting disability status in Georgia is entering a new phase, aimed at fundamentally transforming existing approaches.

The planned reform envisions replacing the currently applied so-called medical model, under which disability status is granted primarily on the basis of a medical diagnosis. Under the new biopsychosocial approach, the assessment system will incorporate a comprehensive evaluation of an individual’s functioning. This will enable the state to assess and identify the specific needs of each person on an individual basis, thereby ensuring more effective and targeted social support in the future.

The meeting of the Coordinating Council was opened with welcoming remarks by Mikheil Sarjveladze, IDPs, Labour, Health and Social Affairs Minister. He highlighted the key priorities and strategic directions for the practical implementation of the new model.

In his address, Rati Ionatamishvili emphasized the pressing and critically important issues associated with the implementation of the reform.

The working meeting was attended by representatives of the Parliament of Georgia, the IDPs, Labour, Health and Social Affairs Ministry, other government agencies, international donor organizations, and the disability community.