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Vale Locals Need Ambulance & “Better Medical Services”

February 21, 2008

Gulo Kokhodze, Vale

Salaries and conditions at the local hospital in small town of Vale in the Akhaltsikhe District has seen better days. The lab assistant has a meager salary of 8 GEL and the attending physician doctor not much more, only 10-12 GEL per month.  The hospital had many patients in the past but things have changed.

People are improvised have a lot of patients and public health services are not what they were in the past. The hospital does not even an ambulance for emergency situations and this is essential for being able to provide quality medical care. It makes difference between life and death, and this has unfortunately been the case on many occasions.

As Maia Gogoladze, a resident of Vale points out, “I came the first time to this clinic to see a dentist. Generally, my family members do not visit doctors at this hospital,” she said  It is not only a matter of economics but conditions are such that it is difficult for patients to receive quality medical attention.

The hospital has a long history. “It received a lot of patients with various complaints from the entire region,” said Shalva Moseshvili, director of the Vale Hospital Ltd.The hospital was built in 1952 and started functioning in the same year. Since then there has been little if any care of the facility.  Windows have not been replaced and there is not money to keep up the fifty-six-year-old building. Snow even comes through the broken windows into the building and snow has accumulated three centimeters in some places.

“Repairs must be carried out, not only because of the described conditions, but because the overall standard of the material-technical base of the facility is much lower than what is found on the average in Georgia. The roof, doors and windows must all be repaired. It is hope that since the new district governor is a local resident that he might assist us in some way,” Shalva Moseshvili hoped.

The medical personnel of the hospital receive but meager salaries. “I receive 8 GEL a month. Our salaries are paid from our hospital operating budget and this is practically non-existent. I cannot leave the job either. I have worked here for thirty year and how can I sit at home now?

I am still hoping that things will improve and the future will bring positive change. If I was at the age for a pension I would be able to receive more money than what I am not getting paid.  It would be better to go back to a village and live there rather to live under such difficult conditions in a small town. What would I be able to do in larger town,” asked Zhuzhuna Mghebrishvili, the lab assistant.

“The doctors receive salaries based on the level of income that is made in the hospital. Thus, they are either paid 10 or 12 GEL per month,” said the director of the hospital.

Eight doctors work in the hospital; they are therapist, pediatrician, surgeon, a dentist, and a specialist of the clinic-diagnostic lab; though they still complain about the lack of specialists.

“We do not have gynecologist so we cannot receive pregnant patients. Several years ago the gynecological department worked very hard. 60 to 100 infants were born a year in our hospital. By the way, there are so many unemployed doctors in the towns and our government could have granted flats to them or offer them some other challenges,” said Tina Gozalishvili, the nurse from the Women’s Consultation Center.

Patient should bring fire-wood, food and linen to the hospital. “There are 1,200 people below poverty level in Vale. We provide services for them free of charge. We perform almost every kind of emergency operation or procedure: appendicitis, fractures, ruptures and proctologic operations, as well removing cancerous tumors.  Moreover, many patients come to our hospital from Akhaltsikhe for their treatments. We do not have conditions though we could make more difficult operations too,” said Vakhtang Zakroshvili, the doctor.

There is an X-ray cabinet in the hospital but they do not have any patients. The chambers are in poor conditions. Only one chamber is in better conditions where patients with the most acute health can be accommodated.

Both locals and medical staff are asking for an ambulance to be provided.  Now there is no ambulance service serving the small town of Vale, and the same is true of surrounding villages. Even the ambulance that works in Akhaltsikhe cannot reach our area in time. There have been many instances where emergency services came too late and the medical emergency ended in tragedy.

“Locals often need basic first aid services, and when the ambulance finally arrived the patient was found dead,’ said Vakhtang Zakroshvili, the head of the Surgery Department of the Vale Hospital.

“I felt bad and called for an ambulance. Since they were too late in coming I took medicines myself and then I feel asleep. Only two hours later did the ambulance finally arrived,” said Shalva Moseshvili.

“My mother is seriously ill it is often necessary to call for critical assistance. However, terrible thing might happen before the ambulance can travel from Akhaltsikhe to Vale. Our town should have at least one ambulance,” said Petre Kulijanishvili, a resident of Vale.

Medical personnel of Vale hospital and locals all appeal to the local government for their assistance and urge them to provide one ambulance for the Vale hospital.

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