Telemedicine services will be available to residents of rural areas in Kazakhstan by fall 2025. This initiative aims to address the shortage of medical personnel in remote regions, according to Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of Healthcare Yerbol Ospanov.
«Currently, residents of remote settlements have to travel 400 to 500 kilometers to district centers and cities to access quality medical care. Telemedicine will enable online consultations — both between patients and doctors and between doctors with varying levels of expertise,» Ospanov said on the sidelines of a panel discussion on the use of Big Data and patient registers in healthcare in Sweden and Kazakhstan.
However, Ospanov emphasized that the successful implementation of this program will depend on providing specialists with access to patient’s medical records and lab test results. The associated projects will be rolled out in phases and are expected to be fully operational by fall 2025.
«Using telecommunication tools, a district doctor will be able to consult with a central institution,» Ospanov explained. «However, the expert must have access to the patient’s tests and examinations. Therefore, we plan to establish a unified medical data repository as part of our integrated approach. Several related projects are scheduled for implementation throughout 2025, most likely in October or November, as the system and mechanisms for effective data collection have yet to be created.»
Ospanov also highlighted that Kazakhstan and Sweden face similar challenges in providing healthcare to remote communities. In this regard, the ministry is eager to share experiences and plans to refine its solutions by incorporating practices suggested by Swedish counterparts.
Earlier this year, Kursiv.media reported that over the past five years, the Ministry of Healthcare invested 15 billion tenge (approximately $28 million) in healthcare digitalization efforts, which, according to Healthcare Minister Akmaral Alnazarova, yielded «virtually zero» results. She noted that significant improvements to the digital infrastructure are planned, with ongoing projects expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
