Addiction treatment in Georgia: confidentiality, consent and checking the centre

What does this guide cover, and which laws apply?

Addiction is a health condition, and it is treated by doctors, psychologists and other specialists. Some people choose treatment in another country because they want to be away from their everyday surroundings and acquaintances; others because they could not find a suitable programme, or one in their language, at home. This page will not tell you which method or centre is right for you: it explains what Georgian law promises you and what you should check before you decide.

It is important to know that different kinds of addiction are covered by different laws in Georgia:

• Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. The Law of Georgia on Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, Precursors and Narcological Assistance governs drug addiction care in a separate chapter, including the rules on anonymity.
• Alcohol and gambling. In the laws we have read, we found no special treatment rules for these cases, so the Law of Georgia on Patient Rights applies and, where treatment includes psychiatric care, the Law of Georgia on Psychiatric Care.

Both general laws also apply to foreigners: Article 9 of the Law on Patient Rights gives foreigners in Georgia the right to medical care, and the Law on Psychiatric Care states expressly that it also applies to foreign citizens in the territory of Georgia.

Who will find out that you are in treatment? Confidentiality and anonymity

Under Article 27 of the Law on Patient Rights, a healthcare provider must keep the information it holds about a patient confidential, both during the patient's lifetime and after their death. Article 28 lists the exceptions: the patient's consent, a threat to the life and health of a third party, anonymised data for teaching and research, cases connected with domestic violence, and situations expressly provided for by law. That list contains no general right to pass information to an employer, to the authorities of your home country or to relatives.

The anonymity rule applies to drug addiction care. In treatment for alcohol or gambling addiction, confidentiality applies under the general rules, but the special anonymous code mechanism is not described there.

In Georgia, health data belong to the special categories of personal data, and the body that supervises their protection is the State Audit Office. In practice, confidentiality also depends on what you send to whom yourself: if a centre gives you a certificate for an insurance claim or for your employer, it will contain whatever information is written in it. So when you ask for a certificate, specify what it should and should not say.

Consent: who decides whether treatment begins?

Treatment of an adult with legal capacity begins with that person's informed consent. Article 22 of the Law on Patient Rights requires written consent for a number of interventions, and Article 23 gives a patient with legal capacity the right to refuse treatment at any stage. The law on drug addiction care links involuntary assistance only to cases of temporary restriction of liberty, deprivation of liberty and penitentiary institutions.

If a centre provides psychiatric inpatient care, then under Article 17 of the Law on Psychiatric Care voluntary admission requires your informed consent, signed in your medical records. The same article says that such a patient is discharged at their own request, at any stage. The exception is a situation in which a person meets the criteria for involuntary admission set by Article 18; this is a strictly limited procedure that requires a court decision and does not depend on the family's wishes.

What this means in practice

• Read the contract before you sign it, together with the house rules, in a language you understand: use of your phone, visits, the rules for leaving the programme early and the refund of costs if you do.
• Ask what happens if you want to leave, and get the answer in writing. A good centre talks about this openly.
• Consent signed by the family is not valid in place of an adult patient's consent. If a centre tells you otherwise, that is a warning sign.
• Treatment of a minor follows different rules, with the participation of a legal representative, and requires separate legal advice.

What should you ask a centre before you choose it?

Addiction treatment centres differ greatly from one another: some are medical facilities with doctors and nurses, others are more social or psychological programmes. Both have their place, but an international patient needs to understand in advance which kind they are dealing with. We ask every centre these questions in the same way and ask for the answers in writing:

1. Permit and licence

   In Georgia, an inpatient facility needs a permit, and some medical activities need a licence. We could not find a public register open to patients, so we ask the centre for copies of its documents and check whether they match the services it is offering you.

2. Medical staff

   Who the treating doctor is and in what specialty, whether a doctor or nurse is on site at night, and who decides on prescribing medicines. A psychologist and a counsellor are important, but they do not replace a doctor.

3. Detoxification under medical supervision

   The law on drug addiction care prohibits treatment with narcotic drugs except for vital indications, the period of withdrawal management in an inpatient facility in line with the relevant standard, guideline or protocol, and a substitution programme. Ask where detoxification takes place, under whose supervision, and which protocol the centre follows.

4. The programme after detoxification

   What happens in the following weeks: individual and group therapy, in which language, and how many hours a day. If therapy is conducted only in Georgian or Russian, you need to know this plainly.

5. A written plan for after you return home

   Ask whether the centre gives you a written aftercare plan at discharge and whether it can get in touch with a specialist working in your country.

By law, only a legal entity founded or managed by the state may provide opioid substitution therapy, under rules approved by the government. We have not confirmed whether it is available to a foreigner on a short stay; if you receive such therapy at home, this must be clarified before you arrive. We do not quote success rates or "guaranteed results", nor do we treat such promises from a centre as grounds for choosing it. The general method for checking a medical facility is in our guide to choosing a clinic.

How can the family be involved without infringing the patient's rights?

Often the first message comes to us from a family member rather than from the patient. That is understandable, and we are glad to reply, but from the moment the organisation begins, our client is the patient: treatment begins with their consent, and we share information about them only with the people they name themselves.

Under Article 21 of the Law on Patient Rights, the patient decides who receives information about their health, and these people are recorded in the medical records. So if you want the doctor to tell your spouse, a parent or an adult child about the course of your treatment, state this in writing as soon as you arrive at the centre. You can also decide how much they should know: for example, only that you are well and continuing the programme.

• Family sessions. Some centres hold meetings with family members, in person or by video call. Ask in which language and how often, and if needed we arrange an interpreter for these meetings.
• Visits. In the early stage of treatment, some centres restrict visits. Find out this rule before arrival, so that a family member does not buy a ticket in vain.
• Accommodation for a companion. If a family member stays in Georgia, we look for separate accommodation for them; they too must meet their own entry rules and have mandatory insurance.
• Support for the family. Addiction affects the whole family. Ask the centre whether it offers a separate consultation for relatives, or a recommendation on where they can get support at home.

Medicines at the border: what to know before you arrive

During addiction treatment, many people take a medicine that is under special control in Georgia. According to information from a consulate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, a medicine containing a narcotic or psychotropic substance may be brought in for personal use in a quantity of no more than 31 days' supply, with a medical document, while substances prohibited in Georgia cannot be brought in under this rule.

According to the customs information of the Revenue Service, such a medicine must be accompanied by copies of the prescription and a doctor's certificate, translated into English and certified by the competent authority of the country you are travelling from. Examples of this group named there are methadone, buprenorphine, alprazolam, pregabalin, gabapentin and baclofen. An ordinary medicine not subject to control, by contrast, may be brought in without documents, up to 10 standard packs. Illegally bringing in a narcotic or psychotropic substance is a criminal offence, so we check this part before you buy your ticket.

Our medicines service helps you prepare the paperwork, including translating the prescription and putting together the package for customs. If a doctor has prescribed you a controlled medicine, you also need the documents for leaving Georgia when you return home.

How can treatment continue after you return home?

The weeks spent in Georgia are one stage of treatment, and the first months after returning home are often the hardest. That is why a few things need to be settled before discharge:

• Discharge report. Ask the centre's doctor for a report stating what treatment was given, which medicines you are taking and what is recommended next.
• Copies of medical records. Under the Law on Patient Rights, you ask the facility for copies in writing, and under the Law on Personal Data Protection you must receive them no later than 10 working days after the request, a period that may be extended by a further 10 working days in exceptional cases.
• Who will continue your treatment. Ideally, before you return you should know the name of the specialist or service in your city and the date of your first appointment.
• Sending information abroad. If you want the centre to send its report directly to your doctor, your consent is needed; if the receiving country does not have adequate data protection safeguards, Georgian law allows such a transfer with your written consent, after you have been warned of the risks.
• Translation. The report must be in a language your doctor understands; our medical translation service takes care of this, and the full set of documents is put together by our documents for home service.

The return plan is both medical and practical: which day you fly, who meets you, whom you will call at a difficult moment. The medical part is drawn up by the centre's doctor and your own doctor, while we make sure the documents reach the right person on time.

What Solidaroba.ge does and does not do

We are a coordinator: we take your request, ask centres for information with your consent, check their documents and send you their answers in a single written comparison, and then we arrange your visa, airport pick-up, accommodation for your family and an interpreter. You pay the centre or clinic directly, and we agree the coordination fee with you separately, in writing, before we start anything; if any centre pays us a commission, we tell you before you choose. The stages are described in detail on our personal coordinator page.

We do not treat, we do not prescribe medicines and we do not decide which method you need. Your coordinator writes to you and talks with you in English or Russian; in other languages, conversations take place through a medical interpreter. The mandatory insurance rule that has applied to all foreign visitors since 2026 is explained in our insurance guide; bear in mind that a travel policy usually does not cover planned treatment.

Length of the programme and length of stay

Inpatient programmes often last several weeks, so before you arrive you need to compare the length with the entry rules for your citizenship. Citizens of many countries can stay in Georgia visa-free for up to a year, and for them this question rarely arises. Those who enter on an e-visa, such as citizens of India and Egypt, receive a 30-day period, and a short-term visa cannot be extended while you are in Georgia. There is a separate visa category, C4, for treatment, and a legal entity registered in Georgia, such as a clinic, can issue an invitation, which is submitted to the visa authority as a notarised original. Our visa and entry service checks your particular case.

Frequently asked questions about addiction treatment in Georgia