Georgia associates death of South-Ossetian woman with closure of border

After a blood stroke, a woman from South Ossetia was taken to a clinic in Tskhinvali and died. Because of the closed border, the patient was not taken to Tbilisi where she could be provided with more qualified medical treatment.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 9, South Ossetia closed the border with Georgia because of "escalation of tension in connection with the arrangement of Georgian checkpoints." On September 14, one of the border checkpoints was temporarily opened for transportation of a local woman to Georgia for medical treatment.

On October 28, a woman from the Leningor District died in Tskhinvali, the "Echo of the Caucasus" reports. At present, patients can be hospitalized to Tbilisi only with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after coordination with the government of South Ossetia. It usually takes ten days, and in the meantime, patients are taken to Tskhinvali.

On Facebook, Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality in Georgia, called the border checkpoint in Leningor "vital for the population."

The death of the woman from the Leningor District is "another sign of an alarming situation," stated Carl Hartzell, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia.