By Lawrence Faulkner

Doctors at the department of hematology/oncology at the M. Iashvili Children’s Central Hospital in Tbilisi, Georgia, contacted us several months ago asking for help in setting up a laboratory for the diagnosis of childhood leukemia. After a few email exchanges we were able to fix a date, 15 to 18 February 2010. The week before, Giorgio Righetti through an acquaintance of his at the Georgian Consulate in Italy, Lasha Kurashvili, organized a meeting in Rome with the Georgian Ambassador Dr Konstantin Gabashvili, an extremely friendly and helpful person as well as very influential in his country.
Roberto Valerio and I arrived in Tbilisi at 4am, 16 February, via Munich, we stayed in the hotel until 10.30am when Dr George Meskhisvili came to collect us. At the hematology/oncology department we met all the physicians, the department head, Professor Asmat Shehgelaia, her colleagues Tamar Javakhadze, head of the outpatient division, Zurab Shagarashvili, head of hematology, Nino Totogashvili head of oncology. Tamar made a presentation of the centre’s activity and the results obtained. They began in 1994 and deal mainly with leukemia and lymphomas with a caseload of about 60 new cases a year. The results are not so different from those obtained in Italy even if they have some problems in obtaining accurate and reliable diagnoses. In all of Georgia a bone marrow transplant service doesn’t exist and patients who have this need must go elsewhere, primarily in Italy through cooperation programs. We visit the ward, twenty or so beds between the inpatient and outpatient areas, in a pediatric hospital of 400 beds covering all main sub-specialties. We also met Dr. Shota Joglidze, a young and dynamic Managing Director, and the Medical Director, also a very energetic and communicative person, Professor Ketevan Nemsadze. The atmosphere was very friendly, we discussed various issues and we committed to sign a general memorandum of understanding the following day. In the afternoon we visited a beautiful and well-equipped centre, the Research Institute of Clinical Medicine, developed by Professor Fridon Todua, an influential person who committed to provide all the help he can. Professor Shehgelaia invited us for dinner and we spent a very pleasant evening. In the best Georgian tradition we toasted a number of times on the joint project and on the professional and personal lives of all. We haven’t even been here 24 hours and we’re already feeling at home.
The next morning, a beautiful day, George takes us on a tour of the old town. We returned to the hospital, where at 1pm a presentation of the Cure2Children activities was given, at 2pm lunch in the reception house for the parents of children with cancer just terminated. A beautiful cottage near the hospital that can accommodate 7 families and is the fruit of 5 years work by Marika (she has a child cured of leukemia), of the personnel from the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Department and the aid of a Dutch humanitarian association, Cordaid. We met Dr. Ecaterina, a biologist already trained in the diagnostic methods by flow cytometry. In the afternoon brainstorming on a possible action plan with all colleagues and later a meeting with the Exucutive Director and Medical Director. We agree to develop an action plan that envisages the creation of a laboratory and three-bed transplant centre in the new “home” of the hematology/oncology department which should be ready by the summer. Here too we seem to have come just at the right time. We signed the Memorandum of Understanding.

We are very satisfied with this visit, it seems that we have the best prospects for achieving significant results. We are grateful to the Pollicino ONLUS association of Signa (Florence, Italy), in particular to Mr. Giuseppe Bonardi, who has given us the financial support and encouragement needed for to pursue this collaboration. We are confident that the resources we can devote to Georgia will be well used.