Kazakhstan to change system for purchasing free medicines

Tengrinews.kz – Kazakhstan plans to switch to a personalized system for purchasing medicines as part of outpatient drug provision. This was announced by Deputy Minister of Healthcare Timur Muratov.
Context
Kazakhstan has significantly expanded its outpatient drug provision program. While 87.2 billion tenge was allocated for these purposes in 2018, the planned amount of funding will reach 337 billion tenge in 2026.
The number of citizens receiving free medicines increased from 1.9 million in 2018 to 3.4 million in 2025. Thus, today every sixth resident of the country receives state support in the form of drug provision.
Reform of drug provision
On the sidelines of an off-site meeting of the Mazhilis Committee on Social and Cultural Development, journalists asked whether the procurement system had been analyzed in terms of patients’ actual needs, rather than only the cost of medicines and suppliers.
Answering the questions, the deputy minister noted that the existing system would change.

“I would like to say that 3.4 million people in Kazakhstan receive free outpatient drug provision, and by this indicator we are probably ahead of many countries. But the current model does not always take into account the actual consumption of medicines. Therefore, starting this year, we are moving to personalized applications,” the deputy minister said.

According to him, the new system will be based on the principle: “what the doctor prescribes is what is purchased and issued to the patient.”

“The transition to the new model will require the integration of medical organizations and digital systems. This means a digital platform and digital monitoring. We will switch to this system this year, and in 2027 we will provide the medicines that patients need, those prescribed to them,” Muratov noted.

Journalists clarified whether the new model would lead to delays in providing patients with medicines. The deputy minister assured them that this concerns planned and continuous provision for patients with chronic diseases.

“This is about provision. The applications we will now collect will be based on what a doctor prescribes to a particular patient with a chronic disease — cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and so on,” he explained.

He also noted that if patients do not take their medicines regularly, complications may arise.
According to the deputy minister, the new system will make it possible to select therapy individually, taking into account a person’s specific characteristics.