Safe and Healthy – Tusheti Greets First Emergency Car

Ask every tourist agency, private or public, anywhere in the world, what the must have factors are for a tourism industry to develop and they will be bound to mention safety among the very first and most vital ones. No matter how extreme and adventurous some of us are, it’s always gratifying to know that if something bad happens where you are going, you will be in the hands of experienced and professional people, instead of just those of your comrades-in-travel.

Alongside Svaneti, Tusheti can be considered as one of the “wilder” areas among Georgia’s touristic destinations. One look at the road from Alwani to Tusheti makes some people dizzy. Despite all preconditions, however, for years, Tusheti remained medically obsolete, its only viable remedy to fly people over in helicopters if a health situation was deemed severe enough, or oftentimes, embarking on a rather bumpy and in no way pleasant journey lasting 4-5 hours in a car. One should give due credit to the solitary doctor living in Bochorna village, who, for nearly a quarter of a century, has been administering his craft travelling by horse up and down Tusheti villages. Exotic as they may be, neither option enthused locals and tourists with much relief of what might come if they were injured.

Taking account all of this, it was a matter of joy and pride when recently the first emergency car appeared in Tusheti, fully upgraded for the mountainous region’s uncompromising conditions and the very first one since the fall of the Soviet Union. As with so many of the latest positive developments in the Tusheti region, this one also owes its existence to Czech involvement. The multipurpose vehicle was purchased by the Czech Development Agency and upgraded by another Czech organization, Caritas Czech Republic in Georgia, which also oversaw the training of doctors and nurses who are posted in the newly built Tusheti ambulatory on a three-week tenure. Safe Tusheti, as the project has become known online, where it proceeded to become a minor media hit, proved itself a success story in the very first month of its existence, and one should look no further than the impressions of the First Aid Unit, the head of which, Field Doctor Misha Patarkatsashvili, shared his recollections of the first month with GEORGIA TODAY.

“We’re Ministry of Defense staff, from the medical department. I’ve seen lots of field work, but this one sure beats it all – it’s as extreme as it can get in Georgia. To carry out our duties we come against numerous primal forces, lack of roads being the biggest problem. We can’t access every village by car, so we often have to run, panting, cursing and sometimes end up in not much better shape than the patient waiting for us. Thankfully, the Emergency Situations Agency has been lending a helping hand in particularly hardcore situations. And it would be ungrateful not to mention how helpful the locals have been. We’re all working in good faith and the team spirit is extra high. Considering what we went through for the first 20 days, some quite serious cases, we handled them quite proficiently, if I dare say. Two weeks ago, we saved the life of a Swedish tourist who had an unexpected heart attack. If not for our help, she would probably have died. The applause, cheers and the eyes of the patient full of endless gratitude, the feeling that we’d passed such a serious test already so early on– it was all very satisfying,” Patarkatsashvili said.

However, challenges still remain. While the first aid services will only be available in Tusheti during the tourist season (6 months), it is already a great step forward. To build upon this means solving yet another nagging problem in Tusheti, a block every government has stumbled on to date – the abysmal road conditions which practically isolate Tusheti from the rest of the country throughout the long winter months. Solve this, however, and there are yet other, unexplored riches Tusheti can offer – that of winter tourism. And safety will be as important then as always – Safe Tusheti means more and more tourists, which is exactly what the region needs.

Vazha Tavberidze