Initiative Hospital Partnerships
The Department of Outpatient Pneumology participates in the funding programm "Initiative Klinikpartnerschaften – Partner stärken Gesundheit". The goal of this programm is the promotion of worldwide existing or new partnership projects regarding diverse health topics. The focus of the funded project is the "improvement of prevention and diagnostics of chronic obstructive airway diseases in Georgia".
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Improvement of prevention and diagnostics of chronic obstructive airway diseases in Georgia
This project will deepen the partnership between the Department of Outpatient Pneumology of the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Pulmonology Department of the Chapidze Emergency Cardiology Center in Tbilisi, Georgia and the Georgian Respiratory Association. As largest university hospital in Europe, the Charité is hosting outpatient and inpatient care for patients with chronic obstructive airway diseases of the highest international standards.
In Georgia, a small country in the South Caucasus region, chronic respiratory diseases are a major public health care burden. In addition, many physicians are not trained and equipped to make a proper diagnosis, especially in some regions of Georgia. The Chapidze Center is a teaching site of the I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. Therefore, the aforementioned partnership will improve the early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma in Georgia through knowledge sharing with current and future clinicians. The project will start with kickoff meetings in the Chapidze Center and Charité to compare current standards in diagnostics and disease management programs. Afterwards, pneumologists of the Charité are going to perform workshops for medical practitioners in Georgia on the early diagnosis of chronic obstructive airway diseases. This will be done in collaboration with the Georgian Respiratory Association, which has 1050 active members, 10 regional branches and produces the quarterly editions of the Georgian Respiratory Journal.
Goal of the Project
Together, the Georgian and German physicians will develop training material and a course schedule for Georgian patient education in handling a chronic obstructive airway disease. Toward the end of the project, a symposium on Georgian and German therapy approaches will take place, to learn from each other’s experiences.
First steps towards a clinic partnership
From May 1st 2019 to May 4th 2019, the first meeting in Tbilisi took place.
Dr. Uta Liebers and Dr. Marija Drozdek traveled to Georgia.
The goal of the first meeting was to coordinate the course of the project together with our Georgian partners. Next to that, the project was introduced to the general public.
An overview of the possible treatment options and strategies available in the Department of Outpatient Pneumology was given.
After that, the local institutions were visited. This included a tour through the Chapidze Heart Center, its wards and patient rooms (see picture below).
The medical equipment (see picture below) for the treatment of patients was inspected, in order to determine which devices with which specifications are needed the most.
Within this project, medical equipment will be purchased in Germany and used in Georgia for the treatment of patients. The focus here is spirometry.
On the first day of the visit, Dr. med. Uta Liebers and Dr. med. Marija Drozdek met the doctors of the Chapidze Heart Center, the director Prof. Revaz Jorbenadze, the chairman of the board Prof. Avtandil Jorbenadze, and the head of pneumology Prof. Tamaz Maghlakelidze. They also met Prof. Ivane Chkhaidze, a representative of the Georgian Respiratory Association and head of the Iashvili Children´s Hospital.
On the second day of their stay, they had a meeting with Prof. Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC) and Dr. Lela Sturua, head of the Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology and Health Promotion Department.
During another appointment, Dr. Liebers and Dr. Drozdek met with Dr. Tamar Gabunia, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Displaced Persons From the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia.
This first visit of the Charité coworkers of the Depatment of Outpatient Pneumology attracted a high Georgian media attention. A seven minute video was produced, which can be watched here (Georgian language only).
During the trips through Tbilisi (pictures below), the Georgian Coworkers presented themselves as excellent hosts and conveyed an understanding of the rich and thousands of years old culture of Georgia.
