Medics examine Saakashvili for possible TB infection

TBILISI. Nov 11 (Interfax) – Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was transferred from the Vivamed clinic to another medical establishment in Tbilisi on Friday to undergo a more thorough medical examination, Vivamed Director Zurab Chkhaidze told journalists.

Asked whether Saakashvili was examined for tuberculosis, Chkhaidze said he had also been examined for a number of diseases.

"All examinations of Mikheil Saakashvili’s health have been completed now, and he has been brought back to our clinic again," Chkhaidze said.

Earlier this week, lawyer Shalva Khachapuridze told journalists that independent doctors from the RCT/Empathy medical center in Georgia assumed that Saakashvili might have been infected with tuberculosis and is suffering from symptoms of dementia.

Saakashvili’s family members and loved ones have demanded that the authorities suspend his prison time and send him abroad to receive treatment, as his health keeps worsening.

Saakashvili secretly arrived in Georgia on September 29, 2021, and was detained in Tbilisi on October 1. Shortly after that, he found himself in a prison in the city of Rustavi, where he went on a hunger strike. On November 8, without the consent of his relatives or lawyers, Saakashvili was transferred from the Rustavi prison to the prison infirmary in Tbilisi’s Gldani neighborhood. On November 20, Saakashvili was transferred to a military hospital in Gori, where he ended his hunger strike. He was transferred to a civilian clinic in Tbilisi on May 12, where he currently is staying.

Several criminal cases were opened against Saakashvili in Georgia. He called his detention unlawful and the charges brought against him falsified.