Coronavirus Kills Health Workers in Kazakhstan

According to Timur Sultangaziev, head of the Committee for Quality Control and Safety of Goods and Services of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 51 medical worker deaths were reported in Kazakhstan since the beginning of the pandemic. 

The health official expressed his condolences to the families and loved ones of those health workers. 

«On July 13 the leader of our state rewarded all dead professionals with a national award, 42 of them were awarded by decorations. Concerning material compensation, there is a special mechanism when every case is considered individually. After that examination, all relevant data is transferred to the Ministry of Health. Then, the ministry checks that information and requests the Ministry of Labor to make payments from the State Fund of Social Insurance,» Sultangaziev said.

As he noted, all local administrations have special regional commissions tasked with checking the causes of death to make sure certain health workers caught their illnesses and died due to work duties. However, Sultangaziev did not respond to how much money medical workers received as compensation. 

Earlier, on March 30, the State Commission specified fixed monthly extra payment for health workers who have been deployed in epidemiological response. If the medical worker tested positive to COVID-19, he or she can receive a one-time payment from the State Fund of Social Insurance of two million tenge ($4850) or 10 million ($24257) if dead.

On the day of national mourning, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of the Republic of Kazakhstan posthumously awarded Oleg Isayev, anesthesiologist and head of the department of Kokshetau city hospital and Kalikhan Kozbagarov, chief doctor of infections hospital in Aktobe for their dedication to professional duties. 

Currently, 511 health workers receive treatment for COVID-19 and 492 were diagnosed with pneumonia, according to Ayzhan Esmagambetova, the chief sanitary officer of Kazakhstan. 

In total, more than 46,000 health workers are deployed now in epidemiological response (including 9000 doctors), the Ministry of Health said. More than 23,000 of them operate directly in infectious and provisional hospitals. Because the situation is still not good, the country needs 1,400 doctors and 1,700 nursing staff.