Thursday, August 23, 2007, #161 (1428)

Press Scanner

Headline: Why insurance companies fight for vouchers
The Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs began distributing health vouchers on August 10, reports Alia. Head of the health care programs agency Vato Surguladze says 26 000 Tbilisi citizens and 47 000 in Imereti are getting the vouchers so far. All the health vouchers are to be handed out by the end of August.

There have been problems in the process, drawing the ire of Health Minister Lado Chipashvili. Insurance companies are going to great lengths to attract the voucher holders, the paper writes, adding that most of the poor beneficiaries of the program don't know how to use the vouchers. It's easy to imagine, Alia continues, how the insurance companies will profit from people with state health vouchers.

Insurance company sales men are reportedly going door-to-door, doling out sugar and oil to convince people to hand over their vouchers to the insurance companies.

Headline: Single mother leaves 3-year-old daughter in Gurjaani Prosecutor's Office as sign of protest
22-year-old single mother Natia Mgebrishvili left her 3-year-old child in the Gurjaani Prosecutor's Office as a sign of protest, reports Akhali Taoba.

The Human Rights Defense NGO passed the word to journalists, who filmed the scene at the Prosecutor's Office before allegedly being threatened by Prosecutor Giga Rtckhelishvili.

Mgebrishvili is accused of fraud; she was protesting Rtckhelishvili's demand that she pay USD 5 000 to avoid jail time. Mgebrishvili says she doesn't have that much money.

Speaking with Human Rights Defense, Rtckhelishvili denies ever threatening journalists. The NGO says it's worried about the issue, and is calling for the Prosecutor's Office, the Human Rights Ombudsman, the media and NGOs to take up the case.

Headline: Next session of Georgian government will be held
The government will hold its next session August 27, reports Akhali Taoba. 16 issues are on the agenda.

Among other items, the ministers will be discussing education issues for the 2007-2008 academic year, state student loans, medical school programs, and biometric passports for Georgian citizens.

Also slated for consideration is the allotment of state money for the budgets of the local governments in Kvemo Kartli, Sighnaghi municipality, and Adjara, as well as issues surrounding the transfer of state property into the hands of various municipalities around the country.

Headline: We still won't die, so they'll try to suffocate us with toxins
Green Party leader Giorgi Gachechiladze is staging a protest against cutting down the sycamore trees on Rustaveli Avenue, Alia reports.

"For 50 years, no government ever touched the sycamore trees. In the communist era, they didn't touch the green zones. The sycamore trees that were cut down on Rustaveli Avenue were entirely healthy; the Old Tbilisi district administrator's claim that they were rotten is a lie. This is a maniacal whim," Gachechiladze declared.

According to the Green Party leader, traffic on Rustaveli Avenue produces pollution which only perennial trees can absorb. Today, he says, there are six square meters of green space for each person in Georgia. There were 12 square meters for each person during the Soviet period, he claims, adding that any developed country has 20 square meters of greenery for each citizen.


© The Messenger. All rights reserved. Please read our disclaimer before using any of the published materials.