Today at a meeting of the Government chaired by the Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev, Minister of Healthcare Yelzhan Birtanov reported on the ongoing work on the development of health infrastructure in Kazakhstan.

According to Yelzhan Birtanov, the Ministry of Healthcare together with the regions has developed and is implementing a project to improve the health infrastructure.

The main objectives of this project are to change the configuration of the network of health care organizations in order to increase the availability of primary health care and provide integrated health care; systematization of investment planning for infrastructure development; modernization of infrastructure through attracting investment.

Approaches to the development of the health infrastructure, in accordance with which work is being done, were approved in June 2017 at a meeting of the Government and the collegium of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Corresponding changes are made to the state normative of the network of health organizations.

At the same time Y. Birtanov noted that for the purpose of planned modernization of the network, the Unified Prospective Plan for the Healthcare Infrastructure is being implemented, which is a management tool, as it reflects measures for optimization, privatization, construction and major repairs.

The Ministry of Healthcare launched the implementation of the new planning system, taking into account the new norm of the network of healthcare organizations in the autumn of 2017. To date, local executive bodies have drafted forward-looking plans for all 16 regions.

According to regional perspective plans, the capacity of outpatient and polyclinic organizations in the republic until 2025 will grow by 12.5%.

In general, as part of the long-term plans, as a result of consolidation, the average capacity of the city hospital organization will increase to 424 beds, which will be close to the best international practices, and at the rural level, where priority is affordability, this figure will remain unchanged (91 beds).

In addition, the report stated that an investment plan for the period from 2018 to 2025 is being implemented.

As Y. Birtanov noted, implementation of investment projects is planned through software PPP using a standard financial model, a standard contract and affordable lending.

Large PPP projects in 2018 are planned to be financed by the Ministry of Healthcare through such international financial organizations as the Asian and European Development Banks.

In conclusion, Y. Birtanov noted that the important result of the project on the development of the health infrastructure is the creation of a modern effective infrastructure of healthcare organizations in the context of the introduction of CSHI.

The government approved the generally voiced approaches to the development and modernization of the health infrastructure, which were developed with the recommendations of international experts.