The Government session chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov considered measures to provide medicines to the population, El.kz reports citing primeminister.kz.
Reports were made by Minister of Healthcare Akmaral Alnazarova, Chairman of the Board of SK-Pharmacia LLP Yerken Zhakatayev, as well as via videoconference the heads of major domestic pharmaceutical companies: Chief Executive Officer of Nobel Almaty Pharmaceutical Factory Svetlana Kil, Director of Government Relations of Himpharm Aigul Isenova.
According to the Ministry of Healthcare, in 2024, 1,588 items of drugs and medical devices have been purchased. A total of 251 billion tenge has been allocated for outpatient drug provision, increasing coverage to 3.5 million patients in 120 nosologies. Akmaral Alnazarova stressed that today 1213 inpatient centres are provided with medicines worth 241 billion tenge.
The Prime Minister noted the importance of ensuring a stable supply of medicines, as well as timely completion of procurement procedures for medical institutions for 2025.
"The President of the country has instructed to implement comprehensive measures to improve the health of the nation. Among them, the most important is the issue of drug supply to the population. The state provides medicines free of charge to citizens when providing medical care and those who are registered. About 500 billion tenge has been allocated from the budget for this purpose this year alone. The priority task is the uninterrupted supply of medicines and their early purchase. By the end of this year it is necessary to finalise all procedures for the purchase and supply of medicines for hospitals and polyclinics for 2025. There should be no shortage of medicines in medical institutions," Olzhas Bektenov noted, emphasising the personal responsibility of the Minister of Healthcare and the Chairman of the Board of SK-Pharmacia LLP.
The drug market is formed by private manufacturers, suppliers and pharmacy chains. Head of the Government emphasised that this business is regulated by the state only in terms of safety, quality of medicines and their registration. Thus, this year labelling and traceability of medicines has been introduced, which allows to control the movement of medicines from the manufacturer to the patient. In addition, in order to avoid illegal circulation of free medicines, a mechanism of traceability in hospitals and polyclinics is envisaged.
Special attention has been paid to the development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. The government is implementing measures to support local producers of medicines, which contributes to the reduction of imports and stabilisation of prices for medicines in the domestic market. Prime Minister stressed the need to increase the output of Kazakhstan plants, cooperation with major international pharmaceutical companies and scientific organisations. The Ministries of Healthcare, Science and Higher Education are tasked to create favourable conditions for the launch of new pharmaceutical production and introduction of high-tech solutions.
Within the framework of fulfilment of the Head of State's instruction to provide expensive drugs for patients with rare diseases, the Ministry of Healthcare together with the ‘Kazakhstan Khalkyna’ Fund has been instructed to determine the list and sources of financing for the purchase of necessary drugs. Prime Minister emphasised: no one should be left without help. To improve coordination of work in this direction, the Republican Centre for Orphan Diseases has been established.
The need to speed up the implementation of the mechanism for obtaining electronic vouchers for medicines through the system ‘Social Purse’ to simplify the process of issuing medicines to patients was also noted. A corresponding task has been assigned to the Ministry of Healthcare. In addition, it is instructed to strengthen information work on the issues of drug provision.
"People should clearly know: to whom and what medicines are issued free of charge. The state fulfils its obligations," Olzhas Bektenov emphasised.