Telemedicine During Pandemic in Georgia

The subject of the present paper is the use and the importance of the telemedicine in Georgia during pandemic (2020–2022). During the pandemic, the use of telemedicine has increased in different countries, Including USA and the members of the European Union. In Georgia, the implementation of the telemedicine is still at the early stage. There are different reasons for the underdeveloped telemedicine. Problem is that most of the healthcare providers are the private organizations. Most of these organizations have no telemedicine services. No public institutions can effect on the implementation of the telemedicine services in those organizations, if the owners of the healthcare providers have no interest to use telemedicine. Meanwhile, the ministry of the healthcare of Georgia had some interesting initiatives linked with the implementation of the telemedicine services in those organizations. Thus, the representatives of the healthcare sector did not welcome the initiatives of the ministry. On the other side, the providers of the healthcare services had no need for telemedicine before pandemic. After the pandemic started, the need for the telemedicine increased. Patients were not able to get to the healthcare providers for the services. Only few healthcare providers offer telemedicine in Georgia, including the Giorgi Eliava Pago therapy center. Those organizations who has no telemedicine services risk losing the clients and the income if the pandemic starts again. The present conference topic focuses on the benefits of the telemedicine services during pandemic and on the reasons for the aggravation of the implementation of those services in the healthcare sector of Georgia.