2014-12-31
The Prime Minister chaired the December 30 government meeting at the Administration of the Georgian Government. 10 issues on the agenda were discussed. 19 issues were added to the agenda, and a total of 20 issues was approved.
The government meeting approved the draft Government Decree on the Strategic Document for the Development of Mental Health and the 2015-2020 Action Plan. Thus decree involves the replacement of the rules for calculating 12 indices. After having reviewed a relevant methodology, variables known as difficult to verify were removed, and so were variables that allowed for manipulating subjective assessment. The new formula builds upon such variables as income, potentially revenue-generating property, family demographics and the level of education, special needs, geographic location, and others. At the same time, the old methodology considered families with children to a lesser extent. Since today there are more families with children in need than those without children - 26 percent of families with children and 17 percent of families without children are below poverty threshold - it became necessary to take this context into account. In addition, the inclusion of various home appliances and other items in the methodology used to stir up strong discontent among citizens. The same is true of the component of subjective assessment by social agents. The subjective assessment component will remain in the new formula only for monitoring purposes.
The government meeting also approved the draft Government Decree on the Strategic Document for the Development of Mental Health and the 2015-2020 Action Plan. The main objective of the Strategic Plan for Mental health is to support citizens' psychological well-being, ensure the prevention of mental disorders, protect the rights of those suffering from mental disorders, and reduce the number of illnesses and death rate related to mental disorders in Georgia, also promoting the self-awareness of those affected by mental disorders and ensuring their social integration. The future arrangement of the field of mental health will be flexible and sustainable, with lowered stigmatization, focused on needs and outcomes, with high standards for care and treatment, and the fair distribution of financial burden.
Prime Minister's Press Service