Medical insurance system has been introduced for Georgian diplomats abroad

The FINANCIAL — The Law of Georgia on Diplomatic Service stipulates that persons assigned to serve abroad on the basis of the principle of rotation will be provided with mandatory medical insurance and medical service.

First steps in this direction were taken as early as in 2015, when market research was carried out in consultation with international insurance companies. As a result, a medical insurance scheme and a mechanism for covering healthcare costs were put into effect by decree of the Minister.

As a consequence, the number of people with health insurance in Georgia’s diplomatic missions abroad increased up to 80%.

The Government of Georgia also made a decision of partially funding pre-school and school education costs for children of Georgian diplomats serving abroad.

Georgian Deputy Minister Zviad Gonadze paid special attention to the Georgian Prime Minister’s initiative, according to which the Government assumes the costs of bringing home the bodies of Georgian citizens who die abroad, which, according to Zviad Gonadze, is a great relief to our compatriots living abroad. He thanked the Georgian consulates for effectively organizing this process, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.

An agreement reached with the Greek authorities on the recognition of the apostille convention with respect to Georgia was also named as another step taken towards improving the service for Georgian citizens abroad. A complicated procedure of legalization was revoked, which used to create considerable problems, especially financial ones, for Georgian citizens living abroad.

Special accent was put on the successful application of the readmission management electronic system developed by the Georgian Foreign Ministry. 17 European countries already use this system and respective procedures are underway to have other EU member states also linked to this system.

The Georgian Deputy Minister also spoke about the new regulations on the Honorary Consul of Georgia designed to promote the further develop and improve this institute.