LEPL Giorgi Abramishvili Military Hospital of the Ministry of Defence of Georgia ( ka, გიორგი აბრამიშვილის სახელობის საქართველოს თავდაცვის სამინისტროს სამხედრო ჰოსპიტალი, tr), also known as the Gori Military Hospital (გორის სამხედრო ჰოსპიტალი, ''goris samkhedro hospitali''), is a medical facility operated by the

Ministry of Defense {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and located in the city of Gori. In its current form, the center was established on 15 August 2006, succeeding the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

-era military hospital based in Georgia's capital of

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

. The hospital is a 176-bed facility, providing general medical and surgical care as well as a 24-hour emergency service for

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

personnel as well as for civilians. About 25% of the patients being treated at the hospital at any one time are civilians. It also functions as a teaching hospital for the

Tbilisi State Medical University , , type = Public , endowment = , administrative_staff = 411 , president = , provost = , principal = , rector = Prof. Zurab Vadachkoria , chancellor = , vice_chancellor = , dean = , head_label = , head = , students = , undergrad =7500 , postg ...

History

The ability of the hospital to respond to mass casualty events was put to test during the August 2008 war with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Beyond the Georgian military personnel, most of the civilians injured in or around Gori were initially taken to the Gori hospital for treatment. On 13 August 2008, at around 2:00 a.m.

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

, a rocket fired from a Russian military helicopter hit a group of medical staff members in the hospital yard, killing an emergency room physician, Giorgi Abramishvili, who had spent the previous four days operating on people wounded during the hostilities. The

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

concluded that attack on the hospital, which was "clearly marked with a

red cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

", was a " serious violation of international humanitarian law". The hospital was named after Abramishvili in August 2013.

References

{{Reflist Hospital buildings completed in 2006 Hospitals in Georgia (country) Hospitals established in 2006 Military hospitals 2006 establishments in Georgia (country) Buildings and structures in Gori, Georgia Russo-Georgian War