Abkhazians with Russian Passports to Be Given Medical Insurance

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has signed a health insurance ‘agreement’ between Russia and Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, which envisages medical insurance of persons with Russian passports living on the territory of the occupied region.

Exactly how many citizens of breakaway Abkhazia have Russian citizenship is unknown, but according to various sources, the majority of them have Russian passports alongside Abkhazian ones.

According to the official information, patients from occupied Abkhazia usually undergo medical treatment in Russia, namely, Krasnodar.

The new 'agreement' aims at fulfilling the "international obligations" that were signed in Bichvinta by Vladimir Putin and de facto president of breakaway Abkhazia, Raul Khajimba, on August 8, 2017.

Abkhazians who do not have Russian passports are treated for free in Georgian medical institutions.

As Georgia’s Ministry of Health told media that the number of patients transferred from Abkhazia to medical institutions of Georgia and budgetary expenditures spent on them in the framework of the "State Program for Referral Assistance" is increasing.

As reported, from 2015 to 2017 June, the Government of Georgia spent more than 6 million GEL on the medical treatment of patients from occupied Abkhazia.

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: Netgazeti