The Healthcare System in Georgia: How a French National Accesses Care

According to the information report of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) on Georgia, the universal health coverage programme (UHCP) was launched in 2013 and is today the main public risk-pooling scheme. It is funded from the central budget, out of general taxes, with no earmarked contribution, and run by the National Health Agency (NHA), the single payer. A package of benefits defined by a positive list and a negative list (plastic surgery, bariatric surgery, care abroad, among others) frames what is covered.

Provision of care is dominated by the private sector: 86% of hospital beds, almost all urban primary care facilities and all pharmacies belong to for-profit entities. Most private outpatient practices and almost all private hospitals take part in the public programme, with reimbursement at agreed tariffs; a few large private establishments remain outside and are funded by voluntary insurance or direct payment. Private health insurance completes the offer. The EUAA estimates the stock at about 405 beds per 100,000 inhabitants, or about 15,000 beds, with an average occupancy rate of around 50%, well below the European average of 77%.

The programme is aimed at Georgian citizens, with an explicit extension to stateless persons, beneficiaries of refugee or humanitarian protection status and registered asylum seekers. For scheduled outpatient services, an identity document issued by the Georgian authorities is requested at registration with a primary care provider, together with a consent form. The situation of a French national holding a residence permit is not described in the sources consulted: eligibility should be confirmed with the National Health Agency before relying on the public programme.

In practice, most foreign residents combine private health insurance, individual or company, with direct payment for routine care. The health insurance of at least 30,000 lari required on entry since the start of 2026, written in English or Georgian, meets the obligation of cover for the whole length of the stay (France Diplomatie). See healthcare reimbursement in Georgia and expat health insurance.

Primary care is the gateway to the system, based on family medicine. In cities, it is provided mainly by private providers: polyclinics for adults and children, family medicine centres, women’s consultations and reproductive health centres. Urban beneficiaries of the public programme register with a primary care provider; registration first lasts two months, after which the provider can be changed every two months, and the family doctor refers to specialists. Primary care is free at the point of access, but hospitalisations weigh heavily on household spending, according to the EUAA.

Regional and national public hospitals and private establishments provide tertiary care. Patients who pay themselves or have voluntary insurance freely choose their provider, sometimes without going through the family doctor, which makes access easier but complicates coordination of care; a letter of guarantee from the Agency is required for non-urgent surgery and cancer care funded by the programme. Waiting times for certain well-regarded specialists can reach several months. A medical file translated into English speeds up the handling of care.

The EUAA notes that households’ direct payments represent more than half of total health spending, well above the average for the WHO European region. Medicines weigh the most (nearly 70% of direct payments), ahead of hospitalisation (14%) and outpatient care (11%). For services that the public programme does not cover, establishments set their own prices: the average cost of a consultation is between 50 and 80 lari in the regions, and between 80 and 150 lari in Tbilisi.

For a beneficiary of the programme, 99% of participants are entitled to free family doctor consultations, but nearly half pay a 30% co-payment for specialist consultations and tests. Since November 2022, hospitalisation under the programme has been funded by diagnosis-related groups, with caps on co-payments; the share of patient co-payments for hospitalisation has fallen sharply, according to the minister cited by the EUAA. A patient who pays all costs pays in advance for consultations and planned hospitalisation, according to the establishment’s price list; in an emergency, the hospital treats first and then bills, and costs are in principle settled before discharge.

The emergency number 112 is the one France Diplomatie gives in its Useful information page; after a road accident, the police must also be called to draw up a report. Since August 2020, the dispatching of emergency teams has been transferred from the 112 command centre to the Emergency Situations Coordination and Urgent Assistance Centre (ESCUAC), which provides a 24-hour emergency medical and medical transport service for the whole population, outside the occupied regions. GPS location makes it possible to send the nearest available team and to identify the relevant clinic. The country has more than 300 teams, ambulances and transfers, with more than 1,100 staff (EUAA).

The vertical emergency programme covers Georgian citizens and people permanently resident in Georgia. For others, and for any transport to a private hospital, the traveller’s or resident’s insurance takes over; the French embassy (51a Krtsanisi street, Tbilisi) cannot pay medical costs. The guide repatriation and assistance presents these cover options.

All pharmacies belong to private entities. Medicines dispensed on an outpatient basis are at the patient’s expense, unless they appear on the limited, but expanding, list of essential medicines for chronic patients covered by the programme, or fall under insurance. Spending on outpatient medicines dominates households’ direct payments (EUAA). For travelling with your medicines, France Diplomatie sets precise rules: up to ten boxes for personal use, declared on arrival with the detailed prescription using the international non-proprietary name and a certified English translation, for the length of the stay; benzodiazepines and opioids, codeine included, cannot enter without a complete file at customs.

France Diplomatie advises taking only what is necessary, in the original packaging, checking that each medicine is authorised in Georgia and never buying medicines from street vendors. Drug legislation is among the strictest, with sentences of 5 to 20 years in prison.

France Diplomatie recommends keeping the usual vaccines up to date (diphtheria, tetanus, polio, whooping cough, measles). Depending on the length and conditions of the stay, it cites vaccines against hepatitis A, typhoid, hepatitis B (frequent or long stays), rabies (young children, rural areas), tuberculosis (children under 15 on a long or frequent stay) and mpox in case of exposure.

The risks are typhoid, linked to contaminated water and food; rabies, with many stray dogs, including in Tbilisi, some of them carriers, which requires consulting immediately after any contact, even if vaccinated; zoonotic influenza, whose human cases are exceptional; and tuberculosis. You should also protect yourself from mosquitoes, heat, sun and pollution, and remain careful on the road and in the water. The Safety page recalls that the country lies in a seismic zone and that mountain rescue costs are the traveller’s responsibility. See also living in Georgia.