Gov’t Hotline 144 is Almost Unreachable, Say Georgian Citizens

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia announced on March 30 that a government hotline would be set up to assist Georgian citizens on any issue pertaining to the emergency regime in the country, including the issuance of special permits in cases of absolute necessity. What's more, he said the hotline would be available around-the-clock.

But reaching the hotline is anything but easy, say many citizens, recalling their numerous attempts to contact the hotline and only been left with: “All our agents are currently busy. Please contact us later”.

Contrary to what was expected, it is impossible to receive a permit at night, as the 144 hotline stops working after 12am.

Despite a great many attempts, Georgian citizen Misha Kachkachishvili was unable to contact the hotline. He was fined GEL 3,000 for driving without a permit during the national ban on driving private vehicles. Misha says he was erely trying to take a dying puppy to the veterinary clinic.

"I can say from my own experience that the hotline is unreachable. After hours of futile attempts to contact the operator, I had no choice but to drive without a permit”, he said.

Another Georgian citizen said he urgently needed a permit to take his pregnant wife to hospital; after 3 hours of incessant calling, he received an answer, though the operator was unable to help him.

“The 144 operator couldn't figure out which clinic was authorized to grant us a permit,” he said. 

In response to numerous complaints, the government’s administration issued a statement: “144 is the government's unified information hotline on emergency restrictions and is not an emergency call center. 120 operators answer about 20,000 calls from 9am to 12am. We plan to increase the number of operators to 135 from tomorrow.”

By Elene Dzebisashvili