Episode Summary
This episode examines palliative care as a critical health system indicator in Georgia, presenting a newly published commentary that analyzes unmet needs, access barriers, and policy implications for end-of-life and serious illness care. The discussion highlights how palliative care services reflect broader health system performance in equity, accessibility, and responsiveness—particularly in low- and middle-income countries where adequate symptom management and supportive care remain largely unavailable to populations experiencing serious health-related suffering.
Key Topics Discussed
- Palliative Care and Universal Health Coverage: Role of palliative care as a fundamental component of people-centred health systems and universal health coverage (UHC)
- Health System Gaps in Georgia: Limited service availability, urban-rural disparities, and underdeveloped community-based palliative care infrastructure
- Workforce Development Challenges: Insufficient training, recruitment, and retention of palliative care specialists and interdisciplinary teams
- Opioid Access Barriers: Regulatory and policy obstacles affecting availability of essential opioid analgesics for pain management
- Global Evidence and National Context: Synthesis of international best practices with Georgia-specific health data and system perspectives
- Health Equity and Accessibility: Palliative care as an indicator of health system responsiveness and equitable service distribution
Key Takeaways
- Palliative care should be recognized as both a clinical service and a measurable health system performance indicator
- Georgia faces significant structural challenges in palliative care delivery, including geographic disparities and insufficient community-based care networks
- Regulatory barriers to opioid availability represent a critical policy barrier affecting symptom management and quality of life
- Workforce gaps require targeted training and professional development initiatives to strengthen palliative care capacity
- Policy interventions must address service integration, accessibility standards, and alignment with international universal health coverage frameworks
About This Episode
Palliative care quality and accessibility serve as important markers of health system maturity and commitment to population health outcomes. This episode is particularly relevant for clinicians, health policymakers, and health systems administrators in Georgia and other transitional healthcare settings seeking to strengthen end-of-life care infrastructure. The commentary bridges clinical evidence with policy analysis, offering actionable insights for improving care delivery for patients with serious illnesses and their families.
In this episode of the GMJ Podcast — the official podcast of the Georgian Medical Journal — we present a newly published commentary examining palliative care as a key indicator of health system performance in Georgia.
The article, authored by Sharvari Patil (Shota Rustaveli Batumi State University; ORCID: 0009-0003-0894-9886) and Sulkhan Inaishvili (Avicenna Batumi Medical University; ORCID: 0009-0004-6639-6068), explores unmet needs, access barriers, and policy implications related to palliative care services.
Palliative care is increasingly recognised as a fundamental component of universal health coverage and people-centred health systems. However, global evidence indicates that a large proportion of individuals experiencing serious health-related suffering do not receive adequate care, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
This commentary provides a policy-oriented analysis combining international evidence, national data, and health system perspectives. It highlights key challenges in Georgia, including limited service availability, concentration of care in urban areas, insufficient development of community-based services, workforce gaps, and regulatory barriers affecting access to opioid analgesics.
The findings suggest that palliative care should be understood not only as a clinical service but also as an important indicator of health system equity, accessibility, and responsiveness.
Read the article
https://gmj.ge/index.php/pub/article/view/14
PDF version
https://gmj.ge/index.php/pub/article/view/14/9
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19050661
Citation:Patil S, Inaishvili S. Palliative Care as a Health System Indicator in Georgia: Unmet Need, Access Barriers, and Policy Implications. Georgian Medical Journal. 2026;1(1):14–34.