The Ministry of Health has put out for public consultation a draft order that will remove the possibility of paying for dental services using the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF). The document was published on the Open NPA portal.
According to Informburo.kz, the decision is linked to numerous violations and cases of misuse of funds.
“The draft order provides for the removal of the provision allowing the use of one-off pension payments for dental services (dental prosthetics, implants) due to cases of misuse of savings being identified,” the document’s description states.
Public consultation will run until 30 September. At present, there are no comments on the draft.
Previously, on 27 April, changes were made to the rules to strengthen controls following the forgery of medical documents and the illegal withdrawal of money.
On 9 September, the Chair of the Agency for Financial Monitoring, Zhanat Elimanov, reported to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on violations in the use of pension savings. According to his data, approximately 200 billion tenge was unjustifiably withdrawn from the UAPF under the guise of dental services.
Following this, on 15 September, Otbasy Bank temporarily suspended the acceptance of applications for paying for dental treatment using pension funds. On the same day, five criminal groups were identified in the Atyrau region that were assisting in the withdrawal of savings. More than 30 dental clinics were involved in the scheme.