Kazakhstan's Health Ministry Allocates 70.5 Billion Tenge in Savings to Free Medicines

The Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan has redirected 70.5 billion tenge, saved through a procurement system reform, towards providing additional free medicines for citizens. The freed-up resources have enabled the inclusion of 7 innovative drugs for treating oncological, cardiovascular, and autoimmune diseases into the list of state-funded pharmaceuticals.

Significant savings achieved by the end of 2025 resulted from transitioning to direct contracts with manufacturing plants and expanding procurement through international UN organizations. Concurrently, the ministry optimized the list of free medicines by removing 90 less effective items and disease categories that do not impact life expectancy. The reallocated funds are now focused on meeting the personalized needs of patients under dispensary observation.

Positive trends continue into 2026, with digitalization of tenders already saving 47 billion tenge. To strengthen medicine security, the construction of its own warehouse network, "SK-Pharmacy," is planned for 2026–2027. Abandoning private operators' services is expected to save an additional approximately 1.7 billion tenge annually for the state budget.

The ministry is also simplifying market access for quality imported drugs. In 2026, Turkey and South Korea will be added to the list of countries whose medicines undergo accelerated registration in Kazakhstan (joining the USA, EU, Japan, and UK). Quality control remains stringent: last year, expertise revealed non-compliance with standards for 112 drugs, and the registration certificates for 30 medications were suspended due to side effects.

A crucial stage of the reform has been implementing digital labeling, which brought medicine circulation out of the "shadow" economy. This led to a 24% increase in tax revenues from retail (an extra 24 billion tenge) and helped prevent the resale in pharmacies of 15 thousand packages of free medicines. Mandatory labeling for dietary supplements is planned this year, with medical devices to follow from 2027.

The medicine dispensing process has become more transparent thanks to the "Social Wallet" service. Electronic prescriptions now cover about 90% of appointments, halving patient service time. For feedback, a round-the-clock hotline "1439" has been launched; plans are underway to integrate artificial intelligence to speed up request processing.