Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of Parliament from Georgian Dream, dismissed as speculation concerns expressed by healthcare professionals that creating a database of people with mental health problems, alcoholism, drug addiction and substance abuse, accessible to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, would be dangerous.
“As for data, the state in general holds various types of data. This includes information within the framework of universal healthcare funding and insurance managed by the Ministry of Health, which contains information about people’s different needs. When people receive treatment and a large part of treatment in our country is free, they turn to the Ministry of Health. This information exists. Even more sensitive issues than this are being collected by the state, because the state, including during the provision of services, receives a lot of information,” Papuashvili said.
According to him, Georgia has a law on personal data protection and all such information is safeguarded.
“Nothing extraordinary is happening. The state has a lot of sensitive data and has the responsibility to protect it. I do not think anyone has ever raised a complaint that such data is not protected. On the contrary, we often see the disclosure of personal data by the media,” Papuashvili said.
Papuashvili added that Georgia’s democratic institutions and legislation protect citizens from the misuse of personal data.
“If you have total distrust toward the state, then you are an anarchist and the state itself should be abolished,” Papuashvili told journalists.
Georgian Dream has adopted legislative amendments providing for the creation of a unified information database within the Ministry of Health for individuals with mental health problems, alcoholism, drug addiction and substance abuse. Under the law, bodies responsible for issuing licenses under the Law on Weapons, granting the right to carry service issued firearms, and issuing military grade weapons will be required to obtain data through the unified information database in order to verify whether a person’s health status meets the requirements defined by Georgian legislation.
The Georgian Psychologists Trade Union opposes the creation of a unified information database on people with mental health problems. According to the union, the decision carries extremely high risks, as mental health issues should not become a tool for control, discrimination or manipulation of individuals.
Psychiatrist Nino Okribelashvili explained that medical records already exist and are maintained through psychiatric institutions, family doctors or specialists, within state programs such as the State Mental Health Program, and by the National Center for Disease Control for statistical purposes.
These records include diagnoses under ICD 10, as well as information on outpatient and inpatient treatment.
This is clinical documentation and not a “registry” in the legal sense.
Access to this information is limited to authorized parties, namely the treating physician, the medical institution and the patient.
Automatic access is not granted to employers, universities, the police, courts except in specific legal circumstances, or military or migration authorities.
The data is protected under patient confidentiality rules, the Law on Personal Data Protection and bioethical standards.
Information may become legally relevant only in exceptional cases, such as involuntary hospitalization by court order, forensic psychiatric examinations, issues related to firearm ownership, or cases involving serious crimes. Even in such cases, information is provided not from a registry, but through a specific medical conclusion.