Hospital Sector Reform and Its Implications on HRD in Georgia

This paper describes major directions of the reform thought by the Ministry of Health of Georgia to rationalize the hospital sector. It reviews the reform directions in the environmental context, and attempts to provide some quantitative and qualitative indicators to characterize the reform process and its impact. The discussion addresses the issues of granting autonomy to hospitals, exposure of hospitals to the market, social functions of the hospitals, and improved accountability of hospital facilities. The implications of the reform on HRD are analyzed. The final section of the paper summarizes the lessons learned from the Georgian experience. [abstract]