Children Hospital #1 to be Abolished

Sopo Getsadze

Kurashvili Children Hospital # 1 is ready for the upcoming reconstruction activities. The first floor has been emptied from the medical equipment. The door has been removed.

According to the hospital personnel, on April 5th the workmen broke in the building, moved part the medical equipment to the second floor and destroyed another part. According to the doctors, the day before the raid the Health Minister met with them and it was decided that nobody would touch the hospital for a week.

But the doctors had heard that it was planned to empty the hospital from the medical equipment and the government was looking for a building to move them to.

“I met with the Minister and he said that our issue will be discussed before the next Monday. He said that after the discussion we would see what is decided. Today they came unexpectedly and started destroying things,” – noted the children surgeon Robizon Donadze while talking to Human Rights Center.

According to the medical personnel, the people who broke in claimed to be the employees of the City Hall. However, they had no documentations. According to them, 500 workmen started raiding the hospital at about 16:00 pm.

As the laboratory assistant Tina Peradze noted, the main accountant had warned the personnel that the City Hall called and notified about emptying the medical equipment. The workmen entered the building afterwards.

“Lately, the ambulances have been warned not to bring patients to the first floor of the hospital. However, they said that nothing would happen for 2-3 months and they would employ us later. Apparently, they are lying to us. We know that it does not happen this way,” – states Tina Peradze.

In the evening the Minister of Health met with the doctors again. According to her, all the employees of the hospital will have jobs: “The medical equipment will be moved to the building where there is an adequate environment for the development of medical service. The transfer might take several days. The sanitary requirements need to be relevant there, the equipment needs to be moved and the medical personnel need to adjust to new environment.”

The patients, including those whose state was severe, left the hospital after the incident. Some stayed due to the low price of treatment in comparison with other hospitals.

Pimen Kurashvili Children Hospital #1 was founded 75 years ago and is located at #48 Br. Zubalashvili St.