New Hepatitis C Center Opens in West Georgia

ZUGDIDI, Georgia – A new Hepatitis C Center opened in Zugdidi a city in the western Samegrelo region of Georgia.

The new center is equipped with modern technologies, and it can serve locals as well as the population from Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia, which is not far from Zugdidi.

Patients will be able to receive all services relating to Hepatitis C including screening, diagnosis, consultation, registration and medical treatment at the new center.

The Center was opened by Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Health Minister David Sergeenko, and United States (US) Ambassador Ian Kelly.

This is the second Hepatitis C management center in Georgia. The first such center was opened in Tbilisi around a year ago.

“It is very important that the Hepatitis C Center will start functioning in Zugdidi. I would like to wish the locals health,” the PM said.

Kvirikashvili considers the Hepatitis C Elimination Program a success. According to him, around 35,000 people have undergone treatment within the Hepatitis C program. 25,000 patients have already completed treatment as part of the program and 98 percent of such people have been cured of the disease.

The health initiative--Georgia without Hepatitis C--was launched in Georgia in April of 2015, when the government of Georgia and an American biotechnology company, Gilead, signed a memorandum of understanding. 

The project helps to reduce and prevent cases of Hepatitis C in Georgia. The main goal of the project is to stop the disease from being highly contagious. The treatment is free of charge for citizens of Georgia. 

Georgia is one of the top 5 countries in the world with the highest rate of Hepatitis C. An average of 7.7 people out of every 100 is afflicted with the virus.

By Thea Morrison