2018-09-06
Old age pensioners and persons with limited abilities will enjoy 50 to 80% discounts on chronic disease medications-Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, before today's Government meeting, spoke about the program designed to provide medications for chronic diseases.
According to the Prime Minister, the Government will take even more active steps maximally to alleviate the population's medication-related financial burden.
"In 2013, the Government of Georgia launched an unprecedented healthcare reform and introduced the universal healthcare program enabling all citizens to receive medical services previously unavailable to them because of financial barriers. In 2017, we started the second phase involving a 50% discount on 23 different medications for the most widespread chronic diseases. Discounts on some drugs were raised as high as 80%. Since September 3, discounts have been available for citizens of pensionable age and persons with limited abilities. As for socially vulnerable citizens, medications have been available, mostly for a symbolic price, for over a year. Besides these groups, the Government made a decision to provide a 50% discount on diabetes medications for the entire population, regardless of age or social status. Notably, the high quality of all medications under this program have been confirmed by the World Health Organization," the Prime Minister emphasized.
According to Mamuka Bakhtadze, the program continues to expand and, in the nearest future, it will include more medications and beneficiaries.
"We know that money paid for medications 'from the pocket' is a heavy burden on the shoulders of our population. As I promised our citizens, we will take even more active steps to minimize these expenses for our population, especially for those needy and vulnerable," the Head of Government stated.
Prime Minister's Press Office