On November 6, 2009 Public Health Committee meeting was held at the Government Chancellery. The meeting was presided by Mr. Nika Gilauri, the Prime Minister of Georgia. At the meeting they discussed certain issues related to H1N1 virus.
"Today we convened the Public Health Committee meeting in order to discuss the condition with regard to "swine flu". In the neighbouring countries the situation is rather acute. We've already sent certain medicaments and other medical appliances to the Ukrainian party. I would like to furnish as much information as possible to our population with respect to the situation in Georgia and what we can do in this aspect." said the Prime Minister.
Mr. Nika Gilauri asked Mr. Sandro Kvitashvili, the Minister of Labour, Health and Social Protection to provide information with regard to the current situation.
"There are certain signs of panic among the population against the background of the situation in Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine is not the same in our country. The virus has not been propagated within the country yet. For the moment only 38 cases have been reported. The population deals with the problem with strong sense of responsibility. Whenever they feel any doubt, about 20 people a day promptly apply to the Disease Control Center and outpatient departments, which is really positive. We expect the increase of the number of cases in the first decade of December and in January. We have stocks: 26 000 doses of ELENZA, which is mainly advisable for pregnant women, 105 000 pieces of TAMIFLU in powder and 6100 tablets of the same.
Administration of medicaments will be provided by the physicians. There are 35 000 TAMIFLU doses in the trading network. We have no problem with regard to protective masks and gloves. We additionally imported 20 respiratory apparatuses for children. It is safe to say that the system is completely ready. We will conduct more intensive informational campaign and try to furnish the population with any information in as simple manner as possible to prevent the epidemics." - said Sandro Kvitashvili.
The Prime Minister of Georgia finally said that what mattered most was to have stocks and keep the population timely informed.
Prime Minister Press Office