Georgia, uno de los países que más reformas liberales ha introducido en los últimos tiempos, se dispone a privatizar la sanidad, en estado decrépito desde la era soviética. Ignoro el verdadero alcance de esta privatización, pero parece ir bastante más allá de la "privatización" de la gestión (donde la financiación sigue siendo pública) a la que nos tienen acostumbrados en Occidente:
"It is absolutely impossible for [a] state like Georgia to retain . . . 254 publicly owned hospitals and [to] finance the health care at the level we would like to provide," Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs Alexander Kvitashvili said in an interview with EurasiaNet. "Therefore, private medical insurance and [a] private hospital network [are] something that we think is the only way out of the situation."
Under a project billed 100 Hospitals, private companies, mostly real estate developers and pharmaceutical firms, are taking over public hospitals with a pledge that they will upgrade the facilities and provide better quality services. (...)
Turning healthcare into a business, the government posits, will lead to greater competition, greater options for patients, and, not the least, less public spending. (...) Private pharmaceutical companies spend about 250 million to 300 million lari (about $176 million to $211 million) per year on healthcare in Georgia, he said.
(HT: PSD Blog)
