Treatment of C-Hepatitis to Launch at Penitentiary Establishments

Salome Achba 

In autumn of 2013, C Hepatitis Treatment Program will be launched in penitentiary establishments of Georgia. Together with the Ministries of Penitentiary and Healthcare, civil society was also involved in the development of the program. In the frame of the project, five hundred inmates will take free medical treatment during first year. Experts hope, the process will go beyond penitentiary system and patients outside the prisons will also have right to take free medical treatment. 

According to the recent surveys, over 200 000 people have C Hepatitis in Georgia. Their number is particularly high in the penitentiary establishments but no valuable survey on the issue was carried out in the country. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Aid of Georgia, number of inmates with C Hepatitis in Georgian prisons varies from 17 to 50%. Despite similar high index, the state had not developed any program and strategy on the problem so far.

Lawyer of Human Rights Center Nino Andriashvili has been defending prisoners with C Hepatitis for many years.

“Situation in this field has been alarming in penitentiary department for the last few years. There was no program to assist people with C Hepatitis. When we petitioned to the department of the penitentiary ministry, they even did not respond to us. Human Rights Center sent several applications on similar cases to the European Court of Human Rights. One of them is Marakvelidze v. Georgia. The convicted has been sick with C Hepatitis for several years already. We requested adequate medical treatment for a long time but in vain. Finally, we appealed to the ECtHR. The Court has not passed judgment on it but apparently after the new government came in office, the state changed its approach to the issue. After petitioning to the Ministry of Penitentiary, Marakvelidze was inserted in the medical treatment program,” Nino Andriashvili said.

About one hundred prisoners have sent applications to the ECtHR because of lack of adequate medical treatment in the country. The Court passed judgments on four cases and state of Georgia lost trials in all four cases. 

Representatives of the Penitentiary Ministry hope after the new program is launched, when prisoners will have opportunity to take free medical treatment, the number of cases sent to the European Court will significantly reduce.

“State is responsible and obliged to provide prisoners with adequate medical treatment because during imprisonment they do not have even theoretical chance to fund their medical treatment. Besides that, Georgia is part of the international documents which obliges it member states to provide prisoners with adequate medical treatment. According to the Case Law of the ECHR, prisoners complained about inadequate medical treatment and Georgia, as a state, was ordered to start medical treatment of these people,” said deputy penitentiary minister Archil Talakvadze.

Deputy Minister clarified that when the program is launched, about 12 000 prisoners will be screened; in the first year, 500 inmates will take treatment. Talakvadze also clarified criteria to select beneficiaries of the program.

“Group of experts worked out special medical and non-medical criteria. At the first stage, only those inmates will take the treatment, who meet the criteria. Stage of liver disease is medical criterion. Remained imprisonment term is non-medical criterion – prisoner shall have to serve two and more years to involve the problem because specialists believe efficient medical treatment requires this time. Prisoners, who do not meet the aforementioned criteria, will be inserted in the “waiting list.” Medical center will permanently monitor their health. As soon as the first stage finishes, other prisoners will also have possibility to involve the program,” said Archil Talakvadze.

Representatives of the Healthcare Ministry state the same program will involve patients outside the penitentiary establishments. Experts doubt when penitentiary department launches the program, the price of the medical treatment for general society will also reduce. Currently, average price of the medical treatment of C Hepatitis ranges from 12 to 22 thousand GEL in Georgia.