Medics Slam GD Chair Over ‘Unprecedented Pressure’ on Doctors

The Union of Georgian Medical Associations, a local NGO, has slammed Irakli Kobakhidze, the ruling Georgian Dream party chair for “unacceptable” remarks constituting “an unprecedented fact of pressure on doctors.”

On November 18, MP Kobakhidze suggested that the group of doctors, convened by the Public Defender to assess hunger-striking ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili’s treatment in the prison hospital, was politically biased and could be held liable over possible consequences of their “fake” November 17 report.

The Union has called on the Government, the Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze, and the Chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee MP Dimitri Khundadze, “to ensure the honor and dignity of doctors.”

Backing their colleagues, the Union stressed the physicians in the council “are highly qualified specialists and are only interested in the well-being and health of the patient.”

The statement was signed by 24 member associations of the Union as well as by the International Association of Georgian Doctors.

Yesterday, the Public Defender’s Office also lambasted Kobakhidze for attempting “to attack and intimidate an independent constitutional body and its experts.”

Read Also:

• Public Defender Slams GD Chair over Attempt to ‘Intimidate’
• Kobakhidze Warns Public Defender, Doctors of Liability

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