The Vice Minister of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan Lyazat Aktayeva, during a briefing in the Government's press center, spoke about the modernization of primary health care (PHC) in the framework of the State Program for Healthcare Development "Densaulyq" for 2016-2019.

Lyazat Aktayeva informed that the goal of the State Program is to strengthen the health of the population in order to ensure sustainable social and economic development of the country. Seven main directions were identified, one of which is the provision of primary health care (PHC).

"More than 50 million visits to PHC doctors are registered annually in Kazakhstan. There are 3 visits per one Kazakhstani while in OECD countries this figure is 6.7," Aktayeva said.

To ensure the complexity and improve the quality and availability of medical care, a policy is being implemented to integrate all health services around the patient's needs.

"The structure of the PHC model has been revised, which is aimed at developing small forms of general medical practice. This will reduce the burden on one doctor to the level of OECD countries by 2019 (up to 1500 people).

To facilitate the activity of PHC medical workers, the number of reporting and accounting forms has been reduced by 30%, which will reduce paperwork and reduce the burden on health workers and queues in PHC organizations," the Vice Minister explained.

Also, due to the simplified discharge of medicines at once for 3 months, the time spent by patients on visits to polyclinics was significantly reduced. Monthly release of free medicines is retained only for expensive and rare drugs.

In addition, an integrated model is being implemented for five groups of diseases, which provides for the distribution of healthcare organizations at three levels of medical care in the regions.

"In order to improve the provision of ambulance, a two-level model of emergency medical service will be created. A new model with a unified information support system is being tested in Pavlodar and Kyzylorda regions," Lyazat Aktayeva said.

She also noted that in Kazakhstan it is planned to introduce a new format of reception rooms for multi-purpose hospitals: a triage system, a patient-oriented approach, a revision of the personnel and material equipment of the departments.