DEC. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Global Fund to Help Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria has given Uzbekistan a grant of nearly $14m, media reported . Uzbekistan has one of the fastest growing rates of aids in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
NOV. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s parliament approved an increase of 96m lari ($40m) in next year’s budget to improve healthcare. The extra cash will be used by the ministry of health to bring in its universal healthcare programme. Introducing universal healthcare is a key policy of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition.
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(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)
NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government wants to tweak the national budget for a second time this year to increase funding for one of its key policies — creating an improved universal health care system.
Finance minister Nodar Khaduri said that increased revenue from tax and a reduction in the regional aid budget would pay for the increase in health care spending.
Earlier this year, the ruling Georgian Dream government submitted a budget which included a drop in revenue raised by taxes, a fall it linked to a regional economic downturn. That thinking has now changed.
The universal healthcare that the Georgian government wants to build is one of their headline policies. It will now absorb around 16% of the health ministry’s total budget.
“It is a successful program and many people apply to use it,” media quoted Mr Khaduri as saying. “So it became necessary to add funds to this program.”
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(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)
NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In what is likely to be the only IPO on an international market by a company from Central Asia and the South Caucasus this year, Bank of Georgia completed the listing of its subsidiary Georgia Healthcare Group on the London Stock Exchange.
It sold a 29% stake in Georgia Healthcare Group, raising around £63m ($96m) to invest into two hospitals it has bought in the past couple of years in Tbilisi.
Georgia Healthcare Group is the largest private healthcare provider in Georgia, owning 42 hospitals and medical centres.
Although the IPO came in below the initial price range, Nikoloz Gamkrelidze, Georgia Healthcare Group’s CEO, was upbeat.
“A public listing enhances our ability to take advantage of the significant market growth prospects of the Georgian healthcare sector,” he said. “The primary proceeds will be used to fund our immediate growth plans, aimed at helping us achieve at least a doubling of our 2015 revenue by 2018.”
Reports earlier this year also suggested new legislation introduced by the Georgian government had forced Bank of Georgia to sell a large stake in its healthcare unit.
Georgia Healthcare Group had targeted a price range of 215-315p but instead had to settled for 170p, perhaps a reflection of the poor economic conditions in Emerging Markets in general and in the South Caucasus in particular. Since announcing the IPO in August, Bank of Georgia shares have lost 13% on the London Stock Exchange, possibly setting its healthcare unit up for its lower-than-hoped-for IPO pricing.
Even so, the Georgia Healthcare Group IPO, gave Western investors a rare chance to buy into the former Soviet Union. Over the past couple of years, London IPO plans from Kazakh companies in particular, have been shelved as an economic downturn triggered by low oil prices, worries about Emerging Markets and a recession in Russia bite.
Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have announced they want to carve up some of their main state-owned companies and that they will look for IPOs on major international stock markets but these sales are a long way off.
Georgia Healthcare Group joins its parent company Bank of Georgia as the only two Georgian companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
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(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)
NOV. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tony Adams, the former England and Arsenal footballer, has become the unlikely cheerleader of Azerbaijan’s healthcare system.
Media quoted him as saying that he credits doctors in Azerbaijan, where he is working as director of football at the country’s biggest club Gabala, with saving his life with heart surgery.
He said that he referred himself to the Gabala team doctor after feeling chest pains.
“The brilliant surgeons at the Medical Plaza (hospital) did a fantastic job, as has been reiterated to me by my cardiologist in the UK,” he said.
“I know full well that without the brilliance of Dr Uzeyir Rahimov and his team I would not be alive now: a minor heart operation saved my life.”
Mr Adams, 49, is one of England’s most successful living footballers. He played more than 650 times for Arsenal, between 1983 and 2002, winning 10 trophies. He also played 60 times for England.
Mr Adams started managing Gabala in 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The number of abortions in Georgia increased by three times between 2000 and 2012, new statistics published by Geostat showed. The statistics did also show a dip of 14% from 2012 – 2014. The abortion rate is significant in Georgia because of its generally traditional, church orientated society.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
OCT. 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Georgian Chamber of Commerce launched an investigation into what it has said is a major gap in the country’s healthcare coverage which leaves over 400,000 Georgians uninsured. The timing of the study is pertinent. In October, Georgia Healthcare Group, the largest healthcare provider in Georgia, said it wanted to raise $100m in an IPO in London to modernise two of its private hospitals in Tbilisi.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Five Armenian crew members, including the pilot, were killed in plane crash in south Sudan. The Antonov-12 cargo plane, operated by Armenia’s Ala International, was carrying 40 people.
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(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)
OCT. 25 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia Healthcare Group set a price range for shares at its IPO in London later this year of between 215p and 315p, an IPO that will give investors a rare chance to buy into the South Caucasus region.
This share price range gives Georgia Healthcare Group, the largest healthcare provider in Georgia, a value of between £257m – £347m ($400m – $535m).
Georgia Healthcare Group wants to raise $100m in the IPO to give two hospitals it owns in Tbilisi a makeover.
With economic conditions across the region slowing, various planned IPOs for companies from Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been cancelled or postponed.
Georgia Healthcare Group owns 42 hospitals in Georgia, giving it a 27% share of the hospital beds in the country. It used to be part of Bank of Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)
JULY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has the lowest number of smokers per capita in the world, according to World Health Organisation’s director general, Margaret Chan, during a trip to Ashgabat.
Ms Chan was visiting Turkmenistan to attend a health conference.
“Recently a WHO overview showed that in Turkmenistan only 8% of the population smokes,” the AFP news agency quoted Ms Chan telling Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.
“This is the lowest national indicator in the world. I congratulate you on this achievement.”
But not only is it an achievement for the country, it is also an accolade of sorts for Turkmenistan’s authoritarian tendencies.
It was Mr Berdymukhamedhov’s predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov who pushed for a strict mass anti-smoking campaign.
He was a reformed heavy smoker who grew to hate the habit and pushed several campaigns to eradicate it. These were effective, much like his other, rather eccentric mass campaigns, such as outlawing ballet and banning men from having long hair.
Mr Berdymukhamedov is perhaps more restrained in his public campaigns but he too is considered an authoritarian leader.
Earlier this year officials in Ashgabat unveiled a golden statue of Mr Berdymukhamedov riding a horse. They said it symbolised his role as the protector and leader of the nation.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
