Georgian Plus Group activists are discussing a review of orders governing the substitution therapy provision for PUID harm reduction programs with the Ministry of Health of Georgia.
“Now, takeaway substitution therapy is given to patients only in exceptional cases – when a person goes on a business trip or has surgery in the clinic. In other cases, patients have to visit the substitution therapy points every day, that is extremely uncomfortable. We negotiated with specialists from the Institute of Narcology, and they supported the initiative of prescription drug delivery. A working group of government representatives, medical specialists and community will be set up to work out new criteria governing the substitution therapy provision. At the moment, some Ministry of Internal Affairs representatives mention risks related to possibility of selling therapy by patients. We do not exclude such cases, but they can and should be minimized by developing clear criteria of who can receive takeaway substitution therapy, “says David Ananiashvili, Director of the Georgian Plus Group, ECUO representative.
Today, 5700 patients receive substitution therapy within the harm reduction program in Georgia. It is expected that the new rules for therapy provision will be developed and adopted by the Ministry of Health till the end of 2017.
On August 7, the Georgian Plus Group took part in the CCM meeting discussing the extension of cooperation with the Global Fund in 2019-2022 within the national HIV / AIDS projects support program.
14.08.2017