Wednesday, january 17, 2017 inside nation healthcare minister reports on new infrastructure development plan A2

A2

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

NATION

NATIONAL

NEWS IN BRIEF

Yelzhan Birtanov

Highways Committee Chair Mereke Pshembayev (C).

Kazakhstan reconstructs 

1,300 kilometres of highways 

in two years

By Assel Satubaldina

ASTANA – Kazakhstan saw 

1,300 kilometres of highways re-

constructed in 2015-2016 within 

the nation’s large-scale Nurly Zhol 

programme. Kazakh President 

Nursultan Nazarbayev announced 

the programme in his annual state-

of-the-nation address in 2014.

“Movement on Western Europe-

Western China transit corridor, 

Astana-Temirtau, Almaty-Kapsha-

gai, Kapshagai-Balpyk Bi, Beineu-

Shetpe and Kokshetau-Petropav-

lovsk highways was fully opened. 

The construction of the Central 

Asia’s longest 12-kilometre bridge 

crossing in Pavlodar spanning the 

Irtysh River was finished as well,” 

said Highways Committee Chair 

Mereke Pshembayev during the 

Dec. 25 press briefing.

Pshembayev noted 1,300 kilo-

metre of national highways were 

renovated as part of the Nurly 

Zhol programme, a large-scale 

economic and development pro-

ject that seeks turning Kazakh-

stan into a transport and logistics 

hub of Eurasia through moderni-

sation of transport infrastructure, 

among other objectives.

Construction works continue 

on Temirtau-Karaganda, Asta-

na-Pavlodar-Semei-Kalbatau, 

Beineu-Aktau, Aktobe-Atyrau, 

Kapshagai-Taldykorgan, Astana-

Petropavlovsk and the Uralsk-

Kamenka highways, he said.

The committee chair noted 

Kazakhstan plans to implement 

12 more projects involving high-

ways with a total length of more 

than 3,000 kilometres with lead-

ing foreign financial institutes 

to further boost the nation’s 

transport potential and economic 

growth of its regions.

Other plans envisioned by the 

programme also include the in-

troduction of toll charges along 

6,500 kilometres of the reno-

vated highways by 2020, said 

Pshembayev, with the expected 

capacity to generate nearly 30 

billion tenge (US$90.3 million) 

annually by 2020.

“In general, based on the re-

sults of the work that we have 

done so far, we plan to improve 

90 percent of the national high-

ways and increase the share of 

roads rated as first and second 

technical category to 50 per-

cent. It will allow for a two-fold 

increase in the capacity of high 

traffic roads and freight traf-

fic and 1.5-fold reduction in 

the time spent on the road,” he 

added.

26 years of independence: 

changing trends in Kazakhstan

By Dana Omirgazy

ASTANA – Kazakhstan cele-

brated its 26th anniversary of in-

dependence Dec. 16 2017. Dur-

ing the period, the country made 

the leap from the economic and 

political disruption of the early 

1990s to a modern social state 

with a dynamically developing 

market economy, democratic 

system, political stability and 

ethno-confessional peace and ac-

cord. The prime minister’s press 

service released a report Dec. 17 

reviewing the work which has 

been undertaken.

“Today, Kazakhstan is deeply 

integrated into the international 

processes, has joined the main 

financial and economic institu-

tions and attracted multibillion-

dollar flows of foreign direct in-

vestment. EXPO 2017, the first 

OIC (Organisation of Islamic 

Cooperation) Summit on Sci-

ence and Technology and other 

major forums were held in the 

country [during 2017],” it not-

ed.

Kazakhstan has established 

diplomatic relations with 180 

countries, presided at such au-

thoritative international organisa-

tions as the Conference on Inter-

action  and  Confidence-Building 

Measures in Asia (CICA), Com-

monwealth of Independent States 

(CIS), Collective Security Treaty 

Organisation (CSTO), OIC, Or-

ganisation for Security and Co-

operation in Europe (OSCE), 

Shanghai Cooperation Organisa-

tion (SCO) and the Turkic Coun-

cil. The nation also hosts a regu-

lar congress of leaders of world 

and traditional religions, joined 

the World Trade Organisation 

(WTO), effectively mediated 

in  resolving  conflict  situations, 

initiated the adoption of the UN 

General Assembly’s Universal 

Declaration for the Achieve-

ment of a Nuclear-Weapons-Free 

World and gained non-permanent 

membership on the UN Security 

Council for 2017-2018.

“Kazakhstan is becoming more 

attractive to foreign business. 

Approximately $300 billion in 

direct investment was attracted 

to the country over the past 26 

years. This is more than 70 per-

cent  of  the  total  inflow  to  the 

countries of Central Asia. The 

largest investors are the Neth-

erlands, the USA, Switzerland, 

France, Great Britain, Russia, 

Italy, Japan, Belgium and Cana-

da,” said the report.

Back in the early 1990s, the 

country’s oil and gas industry 

started with 25 million tonnes 

of oil production, the Atyrau-Sa-

mara oil pipeline and a three-mil-

lion tonne per year export quota 

to foreign countries. The lack of 

investments threatened a severe 

crisis and production volume fell 

annually.

“A serious jump in oil reserves 

was made from 5.3 billion barrels 

in the 1990s to 30 billion barrels 

today. In 1991, oil exports were 

approximately 12 million tonnes 

to limited locations; today, ex-

ports have been increased by 

more  than  five  times  –  over  66 

million tonnes to 36 countries. In 

2016, Kazakhstan launched the 

long-awaited Kashagan project, 

which is supposed to bring sub-

stantial revenues to the country,” 

according to the report.

The contribution of the oil 

and gas sector to the economy 

and social development of the 

regions is unique. Investments 

in Karachaganak, Kashagan and 

Tengiz fields exceeded $121 bil-

lion, as their contribution to the 

economy reached $155 billion.

Kazakhstan currently follows 

a course towards new industri-

alisation and production devel-

opment, reducing the country’s 

dependence on raw materials. 

The manufacturing sector is be-

coming the main driver of indus-

trial growth, facilitated by im-

plementing  the  second  five-year 

State Programme of Accelerated 

Industrial and Innovative Devel-

opment.

In addition to the traditional 

metallurgy and food industries, 

the nation has 26 new manu-

facturing areas, including the 

automotive industry, railway 

engineering, titanium industry, 

medical equipment production 

and solar and wind power.

“The development of the coun-

try’s transport and logistics sys-

tem is one of the most important 

priorities. Today, Kazakhstan 

has become a key element of 

the Euro-Asian transit system. 

In 2016, the President instructed 

developing the Nurly Zher pro-

gramme of housing construction. 

The programme is set to provide 

even more Kazakh families with 

affordable housing,” noted the 

review.

The nation also pays special 

attention to the social and labour 

spheres, promoting employment 

and developing health, educa-

tion, culture and sports.

“The country is looking for-

ward to large-scale modernisa-

tion of various spheres of Kazakh 

society. This work will be done 

under the national strategies 

and programmes of Kazakhstan 

2050, the 100 Concrete Steps 

Plan of the Nation on the imple-

mentation of the five institutional 

reforms, Nurly Zhol, third stage 

of Kazakhstan’s modernisation, 

Rukhani Janghyru (Modernisa-

tion of Kazakhstan’s Identity) 

and 2025 Strategic Development 

Plan of Kazakhstan,” according 

to the report.

Healthcare minister 

reports on new 

infrastructure 

development plan

By Meruyert Abugaliyeva

ASTANA – Minister of Health-

care Yelzhan Birtanov recently 

briefed the government on the 

Unified  Healthcare  Infrastructure 

Development Plan developed by 

the ministry and local executive 

authorities seeking to make the 

national healthcare system more 

compact and efficient.

“As a result of the OECD (Or-

ganisation for Economic Co-

operation and Development) 

Health Care Review, experts 

approved the methods designed 

to develop the infrastructure and 

gave particular recommenda-

tions, such as accelerating the 

consolidation of the healthcare 

sector and implementing a sys-

tematic approach to streamline 

new investments. Currently, we 

are working on altering the con-

figuration of healthcare organi-

sations,” he said.

In rural areas, where availabil-

ity of medical services is a prior-

ity, the existing facilities will be 

modernised and medical care is to 

be provided on district and inter-

district levels. Specialised medical 

help will be available at the district 

level depending on the demand in 

corresponding areas.

In the urban environment, medi-

cal care will be provided in outpa-

tient clinics. Specialised clinics, 

such as cardiology, oncology and 

birth centres, are to be integrated 

into general hospitals and the lo-

cations will be used to provide 

nursing care, he added. Children’s 

hospitals will continue to operate 

separately.

On the national level, the ex-

isting research institutes will be 

merged into university medical 

centres.

“The  unified  plan  includes  the 

national plan and 16 regional 

plans designed by local execu-

tive authorities for 2018-2025. 

Each of them takes into account 

corresponding demographic and 

epidemiological situations and the 

existing infrastructure. The plan is 

an effective management tool that 

addresses the issues of optimisa-

tion, privatisation, construction of 

new facilities and modernisation 

of existing ones,” added Birtanov.

According to the regional plans, 

outpatient clinic capacity is ex-

pected to increase by 12.5 percent 

by 2025. Urban hospital capac-

ity will reach 424 beds, which is 

close to best international practice, 

whereas in rural areas this indica-

tor will remain at 91 beds.

In  previous  years,  significant 

investments in healthcare were 

part of the 100 Schools, 100 Hos-

pitals and 350 family clinics pro-

grammes. Those investments have 

significantly  decreased  and  the 

current aggregate investment de-

mand is one billion tenge (US$3 

million) until 2025.

“Implementation of investment 

projects is to be executed through 

public-private partnership (PPP) 

using  a  standard  financial  model 

and affordable lending. Large 

PPP projects in 2018 should be fi-

nanced by Asian and European de-

velopment banks,” said Birtanov.

This year, the Civil Service Af-

fairs and Anti-Corruption Agency 

will introduce fundamentally new 

types of mechanisms and new 

forms of work, head of the agency 

Alik Shpekbayev wrote on Face-

book Jan. 10. The state body in-

tends to organise a meeting of the 

board dedicated to the results of 

the year’s work and new priorities. 

“Effective state administration, the 

preventive fight against corruption 

and the rule of law are among the 

main tasks. There is a clear vision 

of what the path to these goals 

should be. 2018 will be decisive 

for us. [Kazakh President Nursul-

tan Nazarbayev’s] Address to the 

Nation covered such issues as the 

factor evaluation system, the digi-

tal transformation in state bodies, 

the consolidation of administrative 

resources and the population’s in-

volvement in solving the problems 

facing society. It is necessary to 

implement these tasks,” he said. 

The meeting will be broadcast live 

for the first time. 

The Astana city administration 

will monitor hashtags on Facebook 

to handle complaints properly, ac-

cording to the administration’s 

press service. “We ask residents 

to tag City Monitoring and Op-

erational Response Centre in your 

posts using #astana109 hashtag 

to promptly respond to messages 

and addresses of residents,” an 

akimat press release explained. 

The centre accepts appeals, coor-

dinates the activities of municipal 

and operational services in solving 

accidents, creates policies of pre-

ventive measures and monitors the 

city’s video surveillance system. It 

works around the clock. The con-

tact number is 109 and residents 

can also make contact via the 

Smart Astana mobile app. 

Khabar reports that 150 units 

of medical equipment worth 1.7 

billion tenge (US$5.1 million) 

were provided for hospitals in the 

Kyzylorda region last year. A tele-

communication operating system 

was installed at the regional peri-

natal centre. “A total of 80 mil-

lion tenge was allocated for the 

full equipment of the hospital last 

year. An artificial lung ventilation 

device and an anaesthetic respira-

tory apparatus were purchased for 

the neonatal surgery department. 

We performed 1,980 operations, 

six of which were neurosurgery 

on newborns. Previously, we sent 

patients to the capital; now we 

can conduct operations here,” 

said deputy chief of the regional 

children’s hospital Kanat Medet-

bayev.  

The Kazakh population’s level 

of satisfaction with quality of 

healthcare reached 54.4 percent 

according to the last year’s social 

survey, the Healthcare Minis-

try’s press service reported. “The 

greatest overall satisfaction with 

quality of healthcare is observed 

in Astana and the Karaganda 

and Kostanai regions. The west 

Kazakhstan region and Almaty 

showed the lowest level of satis-

faction,” the ministry’s statement 

explained. The survey was con-

ducted on a voluntary and anony-

mous basis. In total, 211,526 peo-

ple were interviewed including 

32,882 respondents in hospitals, 

research institutes and national 

centres and 178,644 people in 

outpatient health clinics. The sur-

vey provides an opportunity to 

identify the population’s level of 

satisfaction to guide operational 

and management decisions and, 

ultimately, to increase the avail-

ability and quality of medical ser-

vices in medical organisations.

The  Atyrau  oil  refinery  has 

been fined about 22 million tenge 

(US$67,320) for violating emis-

sions regulations, reported 24.kz. 

The excess pollution occurred 

Dec.  11,  2017,  when  a  fire  broke 

out on a pipeline at the plant. High 

levels of carbonaceous soot, nitro-

gen dioxide and sulphur dioxide 

were observed. “The ecological 

damage  caused  during  the  fire  is 

currently being calculated. The 

enterprise is to pay an administra-

tive fine for damages,” said Ecol-

ogy Department head Zholdaskali 

Telagysov. The incident will not 

affect the course of the plant’s 

modernisation.

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