Former minister Yelzhan Birtanov told an interviewer that three years ago, Kazakhstan had already integrated the drug supply information system, and allegedly only a couple of stages remained before its implementation.
“In 2021, when I was on trial, we had a government commission conclusion stating that the drug supply information system and the information register of the attached population had already been integrated. All that was left was to connect the pharmacies, and the pharmacies would be connected. Where would they go if it’s a state requirement? This system still exists; it’s on the Ministry of Health’s balance sheet. So technically, it’s not at all difficult to resolve,” said Birtanov.
According to Ratel.kz, he revealed that the system allows for paperless prescription circulation: doctors can input prescriptions electronically, and pharmacists can track and confirm the dispensing of medications via computer.
“Such a portal, which collects all medical information on all patients, was created long ago, but using it is prohibited because, as soon as they tried it during the trial operation stage, it immediately became clear that the state was being robbed, with a third of all free medications being written off for dead souls, and then traded in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Russia,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Health Yerbol Ospanov told journalists that there is currently no integration between the drug supply information system and the information register of the attached population.
According to him, since November 18th, the current leadership of the Ministry of Health has even decided to develop its own integration system.
“I don’t know what happened three years ago, but today, unfortunately, there is no integration between the medical information system and the drug supply information system, which operates under the ALP – the free prescription provision for patients under dynamic observation. I visited several medical organisations and visually inspected; a doctor sits there, fills out a prescription in the MIS and then enters the same data into the drug supply information system. We decided to solve this problem. It has already been tested. From November 18th, we plan to first launch this process across all of Kazakhstan in the Damumed MIS, which covers 85% of all medical institutions. Then, I think, we will also launch it in other MISs. Through this, we aim to ensure transparency in the provision of medications within the framework of free medicine,” the statement reads.
Furthermore, Ospanov stated that the department plans to create a portal where a citizen’s entire medical history, obtained from various information systems, will be displayed. It is reported that work on it began in the autumn and is planned to be completed in 2025.
At the same time, former Vice Minister of Health Olzhas Abishev published a video in which he confirmed Yelzhan Birtanov’s words that the drug supply information system had been integrated in the country back in 2021.
Additionally, in the video, he posted instructions on how to find this integration on the e-government gateway.
For context, Yelzhan Birtanov served as Minister of Health from 2017 to 2020. In November 2020, he was arrested and a criminal case was opened on suspicion of embezzlement of budget funds on an especially large scale. The case was later reclassified from “embezzlement” to “abuse of power”. Birtanov’s deputy, Olzhas Abishev, was also a suspect in the case.
In October 2022, the court found Birtanov and Abishev guilty of abuse of official power and sentenced them to 5 and 4 years of restriction of liberty, respectively.
Furthermore, the court ordered Birtanov and Abishev to pay the Ministry of Health material damages in the amount of 1.3 billion tenge, as well as 20.2 million tenge each to the state revenue.