Health Conditions of Gali District Inhabitants Near Crisis Level

The legitimate Abkhazian government (the government which works in exile in the aftermath of the Georgia-Abkhazian war in 1990s) has requested the UN, OSCE and the EU to take appropriate measures to open administrative border between Abkhazia and Samegrelo in order to circumvent a pending humanitarian disaster in the Gali District.

Dalila Khorava, the Abkhazian de-jure Minister of Labor, Healthcare and Social Service held a press conference as to the pending humanitarian disaster in Gali District and said that medical institutions that work for IDPs on so called “Georgian proper” (territory controlled by Georgian government) have been visited by approximately 1,200 people from Gali District in the last two months. All these people somehow sneaked into “Georgian proper” from Gali District by crossing the administrative border. Most of these people are facing severe conditions. More than 100 were hospitalize as patients. 5 remain in critical conditions. Two out of the five are children and they underwent rather difficult operations. These figures show that healthcare system is paralyzed in the Gali District.

“The complications would have bee avoided if these people had been able to have visited doctors and sought medical attention in time. Those who arrived from Gali District crossed the administrative border secretly, which is rather risky as the whole perimeter is now mined. The doctors who used to work in Gali District left for Georgia proper due to the tensed situation in the district. There are no medicines available in the district and therefore, a humanitarian disaster is a real threat. I would like to urge the EU, UN and OSCE to take immediate measures so that the Gali District inhabitants are given right to legally cross the administrative border,” stated Dalila Khorava.

 At the end of the press conference Dalila Khorava said that in the near future she will take part in the Global Peace Festival 2008. This festival will be attended by the representative of 180 countries. She said that she will speak about the problems of Gali district inhabitants during this festival.

Source: Media News