On 2 December 2014 Kvitashvili was appointed as Minister of Healthcare of Ukraine in the Second Yatsenyuk Government with the hope to reform the country's healthcare system. He was granted the Ukrainian citizenship by PresidentPetro Poroshenko on the same day.[2] "I've been working on reforms in Ukraine for last three months, but my love for this country has much longer history... I accepted proposal to work in the Ukrainian government because of my deep respect towards Ukraine. I am proud to be a citizen of this great nation, which has a great future," Kvitashvili commented on his appointment.[7] Georgia's incumbent Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili reacted negatively to the appointment, accusing Kvitashvili of "destroying" Georgia's healthcare system.[8][9]
On 2 July 2015 Kvitashvili wrote a letter of resignation after losing the support of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc in which he stated "If my resignation helps pass bills that are needed to launch reform, I'm ready to leave".[10] The Ukrainian parliament voted against accepting the resignation on 17 September 2015.[10] By 22 December 2015 the Ukrainian parliament had voted four times against accepting the resignation.[11] On 10 December 2015 Kvitashvili stated in an interview with Ukraine Today about the refusal of parliament to accept his resignation "It doesn't matter though, I have been working since July the same hours, with the same effort that I was before".[12] He publicly withdraw his letter of resignation on 4 February 2016.[13] He did not retain his post in the Groysman Government that was installed in 14 April 2016.[1]
Notes
^Georgian: ალექსანდრე [სანდრო] კვიტაშვილი; Ukrainian: Олександр Мерабович Квіташвілі, romanized: Oleksandr Merabovych Kvitashvili