Dental clinics and tattoo salons face monitoring
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Friday, January 30
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Affairs of Georgia warned dental clinics, beauty and tattoo salons about the upcoming monitoring, which is planned to begin in two months.
The initiative belongs to Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs Davit Sergeenko. The goal is to prevent the transmission of hepatitis C.
According to the Ministry of Health, the monitoring procedures have already been launched.
“However, the clinics and salons have two month in order to correct all errors,” reads the statement.
29 clinics out of 300 have not been registered at all.
Deputy Minister of Health Valeri Kvaratskhelia informed that after the first phase of monitoring, the second stage will take place if the initial errors were not corrected.
“Repeated inaction will result in administrative punishment,” he said.
In the course of the monitoring the ministry representatives will closely examine the tools and devices frequently used.
“All the clinics and salons must have an apparatus for sterilization of such tools. If all institutions adhere to the rules, the risk of infections will decrease,” reads the statement.
The ministry’s position is shared by the Dental Association of Georgia. According to the President of the association Ketevan Gogilashvili, the situation has gotten bad since 2005.
“In September 2005 the former government changed the regulations regarding dental clinics and since then, everything has been dependent on the honesty and goodwill of the clinics. The field clearly requires serious monitoring, “stated Gogilashvili.
Most tattoo and beauty salons and dental clinics also share the ministry’s view.
For applying fines, legislative amendments are required. The Ministry of Health intends to address parliament regarding this issue.
