The 1st International Clinical Congress of Surgeons “The New Horizons in Surgery” was opened at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) on October 5. Rector of TSU, Giorgi Sharvashidze; Chairman of the Parliament’s Healthcare and Social Issues Committee, Akaki Zoidze; Israeli Ambassador to Georgia, Shabtai Tsur; Head of the Healthcare Department of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, Marina Darakhvelidze; leading Georgian surgeons, compatriots working abroad, foreign colleagues and invited guests attended the event.
Rector of TSU, Giorgi Sharvashidze said that the International Congress of Surgeons is yet another brilliant opportunity for surgeons, residents and students to share innovations, as well as to enhance their knowledge and qualification. “The history of higher medical education in Georgia begins with the establishment of the Faculty of Medicine at TSU in 1918. Today the university offers 11 postgraduate programs in medicine, English-language programs; we actively collaborate with a lot of foreign universities and clinics. This forum, which is being held within the framework of the Science and Innovation Festival, is a good opportunity for establishing relations with our foreign colleagues and promoting innovations,” Rector Sharvashidze said, adding that another high standard laboratory will be opened at TSU next year as part of collaboration with Jülich Research Centre.
“It is not enough in the healthcare sphere to ensure financial protection and financial availability. It is very important to increase the quality of medical service. Raising qualification for doctors, including future doctors, students is decisive in this respect. Similar congresses are very important. It shows a huge interest that our international partners, colleagues have shown towards the development of medicine in Georgia,” Chairman of the Parliament’s Healthcare and Social Issues Committee, Akaki Zoidze said.
President of the Congress, Chairman of Gr. Mukhadze Surgical Society of Georgia, TSU Professor Merab Kiladze said that working plenary sessions will be held that will enable young surgeons and students to raise their qualification, professional level, familiarize themselves with novelties in diagnostics, surgeries; to plan join scientific and research projects, internships, joint doctoral programs, joint trainings. All these will promote increasing the level of medical services in Georgia.
Nadey Hakim, Adjunct Professor of Transplantation Surgery at Imperial College London, who also participated in the Congress, said that a lot of famous and prominent surgeons from Georgia and foreign countries are participating in the Congress. “We will be able to better see the progress that Georgia achieved in this field; moreover, European experience will be shared,” Nadey Hakim said. He also added that Great Britain’s cooperation with the Georgian side is very successful and within this cooperation students will be able to participate in joint exchange programs.
The Congress has been organized by Gr. Mukhadze Surgical Society of Georgia and Georgian Medical Association. The organizing committee is chaired by Chairman of Georgian Medical Association, TSU Professor Gia Lobzhanidze. During the three-day Congress, the participants will discuss a wide range of issues, involving general surgery; vascular surgery; plastic and reconstructive surgery; head and neck surgery; surgical oncology; transplantation and interventional radiology.
Unique books and new publications stored at the TSU library, as well as photos depicting the founders of the Faculty of Medicine and the history of the faculty were exhibited on the sideline of the Congress.
