Disorder in Boarding-School in Zemo Bodbe

Ministry of Education Does not Care about the Violations in Boarding School

Although doctor Lela Macharashvili has a degree in “internal medicine”, she illegally treated residents of the boarding school for orphans for a year. The nurse knew that she should not prescribe medication to children without doctor’s orders; but she did. The director of the orphanage knew about these violations but did not react to it.

Representatives of the Georgian Public Defender’s Office discovered the violation when monitoring boarding schools in Georgia.

“Having checked the documents we found out that a therapist treated children instead of a pediatrician. Moreover, the nurse prescribed medicines to the children during the absence of the doctor. We considered it a serious violation and appealed to the Ministries of Education and Healthcare; as well as to the Agency for the Regulation of Medical Activities. We demanded them all to launch an investigation into the boarding school of the village of Zemo Bodbe in the Sighnaghi District,” said Mediko Maghlaferidze, the head of the Center for the Rights of Child within the Public Defender’s Office.

Having investigated the situation at the boarding school, the Agency for the Regulation of Medical Activities concluded that doctor Lela Macharashvili has a degree in internal medicine and she illegally worked as a pediatrician at the school

A record on administrative violations was drawn up regarding this incident and it was passed to the Sighnaghi District Court for further consideration. In addition, the Council for Granting State Degrees was put in charge of prosecuting the doctor.

According to the court verdict, the doctor was released on a 1000 lari bail.

The Agency for the Regulation of Medical Activities also detected the illegal activities of the nurse and the director of the boarding school was ordered to take disciplinary action against the nurse.

“We reprimanded nurse Rusudan Vardiashvili. As for the doctor, since the court has already released her on bail, we thought it was not necessary to reprimand her too,” said Temur Balarjishvili, director of the boarding school.

-Mr. Balarjishvili, do you mean that both the doctor and the nurse are allowed to continue their work at your boarding school?

-Yes, they are. The nurse is still working here. As for doctor Macharashvili, she is currently on maternity leave.

-Didn’t you know that doctor Macharashvili does not have the right to work as a pediatrician?

-Yes I knew she was not a pediatrician. Having accepted her at the job, she provided corresponding documents. However, I did not know that a doctor for the school should necessarily be a pediatrician.

-Mr. Balarjishvili, did you also know that the nurse prescribed medicines to children in the absence of the doctor?

-Sometimes I did. If the child had a stomach or head ache, should she not have been allowed to give them painkillers? Should we not have paid attention to the child?

-But it could damage the health of the child?

-We have never experienced such a situation.

Doctor Lela Macharashvili said that the director did not demand her to produce a pediatric degree. “When I started my work at the boarding school the director did not ask me to provide proof of being allowed to practice pediatrics. He said he needed a doctor. I have been working here for a year already. As for your question concerning the nurse prescribing medication without my permission, I agree with you that it might pose dangers to the health of a child,” said the doctor.

Lawyers feel this incident shows the professional indifference of the boarding school’s director and pressed charges against the director under the Criminal Code.

Nevertheless, neither the Ministry of Education nor law enforcers got interested in the activities of the boarding school’s director; though the Public Defender’s Office informed the Ministry about the violations in detail.

According to information made public, the director of the boarding school, Temur Balarjishvili is protected by his son, who is a high ranking official at the Counterintelligence Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti