Dear Silviu

Many thanks for sharing! I found the report biased and also somewhat outdated as the Ministry has changed the implementation mechanism for chronic disease management program in December 2019. Most of the findings of the report are no longer applicable to the new design. Ministry still procures many essential drugs including those for HIV, TB and Hep C. It is really a missed opportunity that the consultant choose the area in which the Ministry omitted its PSM related functions.

I’ve added a few comments to the report. Would be good to discuss what could be the potential use of this work.

Thanks a lot for your cooperation.

პატივისცემით,

თამარ გაბუნია

მინისტრის პირველი მოადგილე

Sincerely,

Tamar Gabunia, MD, MPH

First Deputy Minister

Dear Tamar,

Please find attached the report on the Rapid Assessment of the national Procurement and Supply Chain Management system in Georgia, conducted by local consultant (Tina Turdziladze) under the guidance of WHO’s experts in the area.

I personally found the report very informative and the recommendations quite relevant.

It contains also some sensitive information, e.g. on pages 18 and 29… I had a discussion with the consultant – she asked me whether we keep those sensitive issues (mainly reflecting her personal opinions) or delete them and I suggested we keep them in this original version, so that you can also read them. But in the final version we can delete them.

Also you decide how we proceed further – we can finalize the report and make it public, or share the main findings with most relevant stakeholders (joint presentation), or keep it internal and use it for policy guidance without broad circulation.

Please, take your time in going through the report and let me know what the preferred option will be.

Thank you and best regards,

Silviu