Dear Sopho

Many thanks for sharing this information. As for now I can take any time slot in between April 15-19^th. It seems that morning time 10 am. Is easier. Let’s plan considering Tamila’s availability.

Look forward to meeting he SPRING team on rehabilitation and assistive technologies.

Sincerely,

Tamar Gabunia

მოგესალმებით,

გაცნობებთ, რომ იგეგმება ჯანმოს ექსპერტის, სატიშ მიშრას ვიზიტი, თემაზე - Rehabilitation and assistive technologies, 15-19 აპრილის პერიოდში. მას სურს შეხვედრა ორივე მიმართულების მოადგილესთან (ჯანდაცვა და სოციალური), რათა განიხილოს ამ მიმართულებით დაგეგმილი სამუშაოს დეტალები და აღწერილობა. ამ მისიის შემდგომ იგეგმება ამავე თემაზე USAID მისია მაისის თვეში. 

დამატებით, ინფორმაციისთვის გიგზავნით მარიან ივანუშას გამოგზავნილ წერილს, რომელიც 20 ოქტომბერს გაზიარებულ იქნა მაია ლაგვილავასთან და თამილა ბარკალასთან.  ასევე თანდართულ მოკლე ინფორმაციას პროექტის შესახებ, რომელიც ჯანმოს შიდა მოხმარებისთვის არის განკუთვნილი და ჩვენთან გაზიარებული იქნა მხოლოდ იმისთვის რომ მეტი წარმოდგენა შეგვექმნას პროექტზე.

Dear deputy ministers,

Below are some clarifications regarding the planned work in the area of rehabilitation, as raised at the meeting on 5 Oct 2018.

My colleague (Satish Mishra) responsible for this particular technical area is fully aware of the other USAID funded project on rehabilitation and assistive technology in Georgia. It is funded through Emory University, USA and it works through TSMU on capacity building and service delivery. The title of the other project is Strengthening Physical Rehabilitation Services in Georgia (SPRING) and runs from 2017-2021/2022.

In fact, one of the preconditions for the WHO project on rehab was other ongoing USAID supported projects. Currently in European region, there are only 3 such countries: Tajikistan, Georgia and Ukraine. This ensures that the country gets a comprehensive package on policy, services, and human resources.

The WHO proposed project will be at policy level and the plan is that WHO will primarily work on following areas in close collaboration with Emory and TSMU along with the ministry

-          Development of rehabilitation network (with ministry focal person as chair – ideally from the health side) which can coordinate all rehab related work in the country  

-          Development of rehabilitation policy (or national plan) for the country (this includes detailed assessment of services, gaps, assessment of existing programs on children’s, actions required to develop services for adults, children’s etc).   

-          Development of Georgian National priority assistive product list (similar to WHO essential medicine list) where we identify the 25/30 most needed assistive products for people with disabilities, ageing population as well as people with NCDs.

-          In close collaboration with SPRING project and based on the above assessments, support MOH in establishing / strengthening of rehabilitation unit at national hospital. Lack of rehab services for adults is a common issue in the region but it came out also strongly for Georgia. We presume that the rehab unit in Georgia will focus on adults.

WHO will work very closely with the SPRING project in all project activities and similarly they will work very closely with us. Their project focuses on capacity development and services and our project focuses on policy, coordination, system strengthening. This assists to give comprehensive package of interventions for the country. SPRING project is in process of hiring a coordinator / project lead for Georgia who will be our main contact point. As per our information, the SPRING project coordinator will be in place soon.

WHO will focus on both adults and children, however as rehab goes beyond disability and also benefits people with ageing population, NCD etc, we will have a more population focus.

We would prefer to have a focal person in the ministry ideally one at political level and one at technical level to plan, support the implementation and monitoring of the project. Ideally a steering committee that includes MoH as the chair, could be established.

During the meeting you indicated following issues as a possible focus of work:

-          Assessment of existing programmes for children

-          Developing programmes for adults

-          Assessing available resources (what exists, what needs to be established) in the area of medical rehabilitation

All the above will be answered in the situational assessment for rehabilitation policy as well as for assistive technology situational assessment.

Next week I plan to meet USAID representative for more generic meeting, but will raise the above issue as well. More detailed discussions are planned for early 2019, when we expect Ms Satish Mishra to come to the short visit and discuss/agree further steps.

Best regards,