This baseline study provides a comprehensive assessment of Georgia’s Universal Health Care Program, launched in 2013, through the lens of the right to health, with a specific focus on persons with disabilities. Despite significant achievements, including increased coverage and reduced out-of-pocket expenses, the study highlights persistent challenges related to equity in the distribution of health care, its quality, the sustainability of the health care system, and the transparency of decision-making processes. The study further analyses general legislative guarantees for patients and the effectiveness of current monitoring/regulatory mechanisms. 

The analysis is grounded in international human rights law, particularly the right to health under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, and applies the "accountability for reasonableness" framework.

Key Findings

• Lack of Legal Framework and Transparent Decision-Making 
• Universal Health Coverage Gaps and Cost Barriers
• Disability-Based Inequities
• Weak Primary Health Care and Urban–Rural Gaps
• Problems with the Referral Committee
• Poor Quality Oversight
• Patients’ Rights: Gap Between Law and Practice
• Weak Monitoring of Medical Practice
• Weak Internal Complaint Mechanisms
• Centralized Oversight Weaknesses
• Limited Effectiveness of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Activity Regulation Agency 
• Insufficient Independence and Transparency of the Professional Development Council

This study has been produced with the assistance of the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the DIHR and UNDP.