Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia delivered a speech at the 76th WHA. Zurab Azarashvili focused on implemented and ongoing in the country reforms aimed at increased accessibility to healthcare services and medicines. He specially emphasized success of State Universal Healthcare Program.

“Georgian Government has been strongly committed to ensuring universal access to health services. With this end, State Universal Healthcare Program has been implemented in the country since 2013. Over 10-years of the program life, we were able to expand services and respond to various health needs, reaching over 95% of population coverage. Sustained increase in public spending on health since 2013 has led to a significant decline in the out-of-pocket payment share of current spending on health, from 73% in 2012 to 41% in 202.

The Government of Georgia has been implementing bold policy reforms aimed at improving access to pharmaceuticals by price regulation and building quality control systems. Mechanisms are put in place to improve access to orphan drugs and more comprehensively address health and social needs of children with rare conditions”, - said the Minister.

Zurab Azarashvili highlighted the necessity of introduction of international standards in hospital sector. As stated by the Minister, the clinics have already started active work to attain the international accreditation by 2025, which will be a mandatory precondition for enrolment in State Universal Healthcare Program from 2025. He dwelt upon a new multisectoral platform – the Patient Safety National Council.