Healthcare Minister-Designate Outlines Priorities
The minister-designate for healthcare and social welfare, Sandro Kvitashvili, said his priority as Minister would be to increase public involvement in the decision-making and reform implementing processes.
Kvitashvili, who is a political newcomer and a long-time friend of PM-nominee Lado Gurgenidze, told lawmakers at a parliamentary committee hearing on January 28 that he would set up a consultative commission composed of healthcare professionals to offer expertise on reforms and policy priorities.
?All decisions will be made with the participation of the people directly concerned,? Kvitashvili said.
The 2008 state budget allocated GEL 1.284 billion for the Ministry of Labor, Healthcare and Social Welfare. The ministry will play a leading role in implementing President Saakashvili?s and the new cabinet?s program, known as Georgia without Poverty.
Kvitashvili confirmed that a controversial state-funded employment program would go ahead, but with modifications. ?It will happen,” he said, “but with much more contemplation and in a specific direction to help overcome structural unemployment.? The program, as previously outlined, involves three-month internships in private businesses for unemployed people, with the state paying GEL 600 to each participant over the period.
Kvitashvili also said a health insurance system was another priority for him.
Before being asked to join the cabinet by Gurgenidze, Kvitashvili served as a senior director of administration at New York-based EastWest Institute (EWI). He has a health administration background and was President of the Curatio International Foundation in Tbilisi. Prior to joining EWI, he served as UNDP National Expert for Health, Education and Social Sectors, Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth Program in Georgia. He also served as a consultant to several international organizations in the Balkans, the South Caucasus, Eastern Europe and the United States.
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