Health Ministry tightens control of beauty and tattoo salons
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, January 5
The Ministry of Labor, Healthcare and Social Welfare is going to tighten control of beauty, esthetic and tattoo salons from January 15.
The Ministry has released the decree within the Hepatitis C program, which envisages the elimination and prevention of Hepatitis C and other infections.
According to the National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC) 2015 research, from 2133 checked salons, in most of them instrument sterilization and disinfection rules were violated.
“In the checked salons, the knowledge of the staff about hygiene and disease prevention is very poor and the sanitary conditions are unsatisfactory,” the research of the NCDC reads.
The Minister of Labor, Healthcare and Social Welfare Davit Sergeenko has already presented the issue at the government session.
“The elimination of infection diseases, especially of Hepatitis C, contains an important component- the prevention of the spread of infections. We are going to establish elementary sanitary conditions in tattoo and beauty salons,” stated Sergeenko.
According to the head of Health Regulation Department Natia Noghaideli, the salons will be checked once a year on a selective basis.
The health regulation official said that in case the violations are revealed in the salons, they will be given certain recommendations. In case of repeated violations, the salons will be fined.
“Our goal is not to impose fines. Our goal is to form a sanitary culture in beauty salons in order to minimize the risk of infections spreading,” Noghaideli noted.
It should be mentioned that in March 2015, the Health Ministry checked 1,700 dental clinics in order to increase infection control in hospitals and clinics within the Hepatitis C program.
The Hepatitis C program started in Georgia on April 2, 2015 when the government of Georgia and the United States Center for Disease Control and the American biotechnology company Gilead Sciences signed a contract about the new Hepatitis C medication. The program is being successfully implemented in Georgia.
