Former Vice-Minister of Healthcare Olzhas Abishev reported that duplication of software solutions was discovered in Kazakhstan's healthcare digitalisation system.
On his Facebook page, he stated that one of the key XML files for data exchange turned out to be a reworked version of a development by the Croatian company ‘Ericsson Nikola Tesla’.
“We are talking about two files: ‘GetRecipeInsertedFromMISDataRequest.xml’ (hereinafter — ‘File 1’) and ‘Example Request 1.xml’ (hereinafter — ‘File 2’). Both files are designed for working with prescriptions in medical information systems. File 1 is used to transmit basic information about prescriptions, while File 2 adds details such as descriptions of medicines and medical devices”, the report said.
According to the former Vice-Minister, the analysis showed that the second file almost completely replicates the structure of the first, with only a few new elements added.
“The Ministry of Healthcare presents File 2 as the result of new developments, which supposedly require significant investment and time. However, if the analysis results are to be believed, instead of creating a new product, specialists simply reworked an already existing document. Although File 1 was deemed unimplemented, and for that, both I and Yelzhan Birtanov were even convicted”, claims Abishev.
It will be recalled that in November 2020, former Minister of Healthcare Yelzhan Birtanov and his deputy Olzhas Abishev were arrested. A criminal case was opened against them on suspicion of embezzlement of budget funds on an especially large scale. It was later reclassified from ‘theft’ to ‘abuse of power’.
In October 2022, the court found Birtanov and Abishev guilty and sentenced them to 5 and 4 years of restriction of liberty respectively.
In addition, the court ordered Birtanov and Abishev to pay material damages to the Ministry of Healthcare in the amount of 1.3 billion tenge, as well as 20.2 million tenge each to the state revenue.