Page 52 - GEORptFeb22

Georgian health minister announces salary supplements for paramedics, ambulance personnel
Field hospital to be set up in Tbilisi as virus levels breach record
Insurance moving up to third.
Georgian paramedics and ambulance personnel are to receive GEL 500 ($160) salary supplements, Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze announced on August 18.
On August 17, Georgia’s government announced the creation of a field hospital for additional coronavirus cases in Tbilisi.
Tikaradze underlined that ambulance doctors from all Georgian regions will receive the salary supplements, noting that they have been working in very difficult conditions.
“We have been giving supplements to doctors for almost a year... The remuneration of all medical staff is quite high,” said Tikaradze.
Tikaradze visited a recently erected field hospital for 500 COVID-19 patients in the Didi Digomi district of Tbilisi earlier on August 18.
The government increased the salaries of healthcare workers who are involved in the fight against COVID-19 by 50% in October last year.
Georgian Minister of Health Ekaterine Tikaradze announced on August 16 that a field hospital will be set up in Tbilisi in the suburb of Digomi. On August 12, Georgia announced three weeks of new COVID-19 restrictions as coronavirus cases reached their highest levels yet in the country.
The hospital will have capacity for 500 patients and most beds will be equipped with oxygen.
Tikaradze said that if necessary, field hospitals might be arranged in other regions besides Tbilisi. The field hospital’s arrangement started on August 17, as beds and other equipment were mobilised in one of the sports halls of the Olympic Village in Digomi.
Tikaradze also declared that vaccination centres that do not require registration will be arranged in all regions of Georgia. She added that following the introduction of the latest virus restrictions, the government at this point does not plan to introduce any additional ones.
As for the vaccination process in the country, according to Paata Imnadze, deputy director of the National Centre for Disease Control, the vaccination rate was satisfactory. "We are satisfied with the current vaccination rate. This is 25,000-26,000 daily vaccinations," Imnadze said, adding that the system can already handle more than 30,000 daily vaccinations.
As of August 17, Georgia had administered a total of 806,698 vaccinations. A total of 238,871 people were fully vaccinated by that date.
9.1.9 Agriculture sector news
Georgian hazelnut exports up 28% in six months
Georgia has exported 18,400 tonnes of hazelnuts between August 1, 2021, and January 23, 2022, a 28% increase compared to the same period of last year, the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection announced.
The exports generated $84.5mn in revenue, an $8.3mn increase year-on-year. The export price of hazelnuts increased by 11% compared to the same period of last year.
The top destinations for Georgian hazelnuts were Italy (7,621 tonnes), Germany (3,533 tonnes), Spain (522 tonnes) and Czechia (467 tonnes). Despite the growth in aggregate numbers, Georgia has faced other problems with its hazelnut exports in recent months. In October, it was reported that Georgia’s hazelnut exports for that month were up 9% y/y, but that quality issues had led to a high number of shipments being rejected at EU borders.
52 GEORGIA Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com