What a consultation costs in Tbilisi
Private outpatient care here is cheap by Western standards and almost always payable on the day. The clinics that publish rates land in a narrow band. A CLINIC lists 150 GEL for a 40 minute GP appointment, 150 GEL for most specialists, 170 GEL for neurology and 250 to 300 GEL for psychiatry. Chaika quotes around 170 GEL for a specialist. Diagnostics are cheaper still: roughly 30 GEL for a basic blood count, 55 GEL for an ECG, 70 to 170 GEL for ultrasound.
The exception is the insurance-facing end of the market. Clinics built around expatriate contracts and international policies, AMC and IMSS among them, do not publish walk-in rates and price above the local market. If your policy is billed directly, the sticker price barely matters. If you are paying cash, ask first.
How to choose
Decide whether you need a doctor or a building. For a chest infection, a rash, a repeat prescription or a blood panel, an outpatient clinic with a published price list is faster and cheaper than a hospital. For anything that might need imaging, surgery or admission, start somewhere that has those on site.
Three things to settle on the phone
- Which doctor, not which clinic. Ask for the named physician and ask what language the consultation itself runs in.
- Whether the written report comes in English. Lab and imaging reports are often issued in Georgian only, and you will need an English one for insurance.
- Direct billing or reimbursement. Very few Georgian clinics bill foreign insurers directly. Most hand you an invoice and leave the claim to you.
Red flags
- A clinic that will not tell you which doctor you are booked with.
- Consultation fees quoted only after the examination is over.
- A long list of tests ordered at a first visit with no working diagnosis attached. Over-testing is the standard complaint foreigners make about private medicine here.
- No written report at the end of the appointment. You need it for the claim and for the next doctor.
- Prescriptions given verbally because the pharmacy will dispense anyway. That is convenient right up to the point where something goes wrong.
When you do not need to pay for this
Self-referral is allowed, so paying a GP purely to be pointed at a specialist is money you can keep. If you already know you need a dermatologist, book the dermatologist.
Pharmacies absorb a lot that would need an appointment elsewhere. Many routine medicines are sold over the counter, and walk-in laboratories take blood work without a referral for a few lari a test. For a one-off, uncomplicated problem that you have had before, that route is reasonable.
Pay for a proper English-speaking GP when the problem is not obvious, when you are managing something chronic, when you need documentation that will be read outside Georgia, or when you are on medication that needs supervision rather than a pharmacy counter. If you plan to stay, having one named doctor who holds your history is worth more than any individual consultation.
For the wider hospital picture see our list of the best private clinics in Tbilisi, and for the policy side see health insurance in Tbilisi.
