Georgian NGOs call on authorities to help Abkhazia after COVID-19 outbreak

Six Georgian NGOs have appealed to the country's government with a request to provide humanitarian and medical assistance to Abkhazia after reports about shortage of medical personnel and an outbreak of coronavirus.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Gudauta hospital lacks junior medical personnel because of the growing number of coronavirus-infected patients. On August 17, the Ministry for Public Health of Abkhazia appealed to residents with a request for volunteer assistance. The worsening situation with COVID-19 may be associated with the opening of the border for tourists, Facebook users suggest.

The appeal of Georgian NGOs to the country's authorities with a request to provide humanitarian and medical assistance to Abkhazia is connected with the Abkhazian authorities' claim about the lack of medical personnel and the appeal for help to the local population. The Georgian NGOs draw the attention to the fact that the main source of income for the local population is tourism, and the absence of tourists during the pandemic affected the well-being of the local residents. It is for this reason that Abkhazia opened the border with Russia, declared the Georgian NGOs in their joint statement on August 18 as translated from the Georgian language by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In their statement, the Georgian NGOs note that after the opening of the border, Abkhazia faced a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus-infected people.

Georgian activists suggest that the authorities should organize transporting and placing patients from Abkhazia to Georgian hospitals or send medical personnel and the necessary resources to Abkhazia.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 19, 2020 at 01:08 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.