In-home patients lacking proper medical care: Ombudsman

The Ombudsman has appealed to the Prime Minister of Georgia, Nika Gilauri, to provide better in-home service for those with limited mobility.

Based on changes to the law in 2009, health insurance now includes the provision of in-home medical service by a local doctor or nurse, to those people with limited to no mobility. This change was assessed by the Ombudsman as a generally positive one, however, studies have shown that "such service does not ensure a complete realization of the healthcare needs of these people... Sometimes a specialist’s visit is very important for exact diagnosis and treatment.” Though, from a technical viewpoint, specialist visitation in-home is possible, the Ombudsman has found that insurance companies are not always willing to pay for such services.

This gap between legislation and technical reality is a situation that the Ombudsman declares "violates [the patient's] health protection right."