A Mass vaccination center has been st up in the Hualing Plaza Area, offering 10 vaccination rooms which can accommodate the vaccination of up to 4000 people daily.
Hualing has been distinguished by high social responsibility since the day of its establishment on the Georgian market. Even in the context of the global pandemic caused by Covid-19, this is one of the largest investors in the country, dedicated to contributing to public life. Since June, organized by EMS (“Express Medical Service”) and supported by Hualing Plaza, a mass vaccination center has been running in the shopping center, which operates using European standards and experience.
The Hualing Shopping Mall covers an area of 110,000 square meters, has 8,000 to 10,000 parking spaces and provides efficient and safe management of large flows of visitors. The vaccination area is equipped with 4 escalators, 8 elevators, 4 bathrooms, 5 emergency exits, and is fully adapted for people with disabilities.
There are 10 vaccination rooms in this center of mass vaccination, which serves the vaccination of up to 4000 people. In case of special need, the space also offers the possibility of vaccinating 6000 to 8000 visitors.
It should be noted that in order to facilitate vaccinations for citizens, it is possible to register on the spot, without prior booking, for all four vaccines distributed in Georgia- Pfizer, Sinopharm, Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
Representatives of the Ministry of Health, the NCDC, the WHO Regional Office and the Medical Regulatory Agency visited the Hualing Mass Vaccination Center several times, and their epidemiological or other risk management requirements were carefully considered. For added security, there is a resuscitation room in the vaccination center fitted with the necessary equipment and run under the supervision of qualified doctors.
The geographical location of Hualing Plaza is considered to be one of the transportation hubs of the city, which makes this place convenient for the residents of any district of Tbilisi.
The Hualing Mass Vaccination Center is currently vaccinating the following groups: Tbilisi City Hall (including Boards, LLCs, IPs), the MIA, Georgian Railway, international missions and embassies, employees and family members of the Georgian Distributors Association, the Rugby Union, the Georgian National Football Team, and citizens registered through booking.moh.gov.ge and those who turn up on the spot.
We talked to the General Director of Hualing, Tiko Maghradze, about the involvement of the Hualing Group in solving Georgia’s pandemic challenges and the importance of their vaccination center.
“Hualing Group has been making a significant contribution to the fight against Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic,” she tells us. “As soon as the pandemic was declared, the hospital in the Hualing area was converted into a Covid Hospital. We have been offering our partners- enterprises and businesses that have commercial spaces in the Plaza area, preferential terms tailored to them since the beginning of the pandemic.
“However, we did not stop at the moratoriums, and decided to establish a mass vaccination center in Hualing Plaza in cooperation with Express Medical Service, which will help the state and the population in the process of vaccination.
“Everything in this space is set up for the full implementation of the vaccination process. The mall area was specially selected to better accommodate and manage the flow of vaccination seekers, while keeping the environment as safe as possible,” she notes. “Vaccination is available here with both pre-booking and on-site registration. The Hualing Plaza administration does its best to facilitate the processes, both in terms of vaccination, as well as structurally and operationally. Currently, the center is expanding, as the number of people seeking vaccination has increased significantly. All vaccines represented in Georgia are available at the center. In terms of increasing space and flow management, we try to create the best conditions for the medical service to provide the highest quality services.”
For more details, we spoke to Giorgi Bolghashvili, Director of Express Medical Service.
“When we started looking for a place for the first mass vaccination center in Georgia to enhance the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, naturally, first of all, we discussed cooperation with Hualing,” he tells us.
“In addition to being a highly socially responsible company, it has always supported partnerships with the Georgian business sector through innovative approaches. The advantage of Hualing compared to other locations was quite notable. Here, we found a safe and ventilated building with huge spaces, a large parking lot and, most importantly, a positive attitude from the company’s management towards the project. Hualing offered us the appropriate space and the right to use the infrastructure of the building at a mere symbolic price.”
The Hualing mass vaccination center is the only one where anyone wishing to be vaccinated can be vaccinated with any of the four types of vaccines available in Georgia at this stage.
“In general, the purpose of mass vaccination centers, in addition to handling a large flow of people, is to relieve medical centers from the routine vaccination process, where, at the expense of free space and staff, Covid-bed services will become more efficient,” Bolghashvili notes. “It is a process where there are three participants: the state, the business sector, and the population, whose joint responsibility should lead to results. In our case, there is maximum support from the Ministry of Health and the NCDC. Even during the period of restriction of public transport, according to the decision of the Coordination Council, the population wishing to be vaccinated can be picked up from several locations with special buses and brought to the Hualing vaccination center.”
Hualing and EMS have already planned a number of joint social and marketing activities, the main goal of which is to motivate the population to be involved in the vaccination process.
By Ana Dumbadze
