The Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) has announced the restoration of funding for medical organisations.
According to the Fund's press service, as of today the SHIF has paid out approximately 2 trillion 122 billion tenge to clinics and hospitals, including the provision of medicines.
"As of 20 November, payments have been made to 1,959 medical organisations for services rendered from January to October. At the same time, payment for medical services for the first quarter stands at 100%, and from April to September at 95%. Work is currently underway to close out October, and at the beginning of December it is planned to move on to payments for November. In other words, the stages of funding have been restored and will continue on a month-by-month basis.", said Indira Sarkenova, Deputy Chairwoman of the SHIF Management Board.
The SHIF press service stated that since the beginning of the year, the Ministry of Healthcare's information systems have been undergoing refinement, and it is claimed that this caused delays in payments for medical services rendered.
"For our part, the Fund is taking all necessary measures to ensure the uninterrupted funding of medical care", the statement read.
It is worth recalling that in August, the head of the SHIF, Abulkhair Skakov, outlined the reason for the agency's debt to medical organisations. According to him, the payment system initially failed, and later the republican budget delayed funds for the guaranteed volume of medical care. At the same time, Skakov promised that the debts would be settled in the coming months.
Meanwhile, in July, the Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) reviewed the results of a state audit of the SHIF's efficiency for 2022-2023. The audit covered funds and assets totalling 3.8 trillion tenge and involved 13 organisations.
Its findings identified procedural violations amounting to more than 32 billion tenge, as well as inefficient planning and use of funds totalling 31.1 billion tenge. The sum of financial losses and lost profits amounted to 11.8 million tenge.