Funding for cardiac surgery in Almaty has nearly quadrupled in recent years, doubling the number of free surgeries under the compulsory social health insurance (OSMS) system. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Shynar Alzhanova, a representative of the Almaty branch of the Social Health Insurance Fund, said at a briefing at the Regional Communications Service that with the introduction of the OSMS system, Kazakhstanis have expanded opportunities to receive high-tech medical care. "Today, expensive heart surgeries are available to every insured patient, regardless of the size of their insurance contributions," she noted.
According to her, in 2019, before the launch of OSMS, over 5,300 cardiac surgeries were performed in Almaty at a cost of 7.6 billion tenge. By 2025, the number of interventions more than doubled to 11,100 surgeries. Funding for this area also increased nearly fourfold, reaching 28.3 billion tenge.
"The cost of surgeries varies depending on complexity. For example, standard surgeries start from 300,000 tenge, while the most expensive procedure — implantation of a circulatory support system — costs almost 79 million tenge," she explained.
The speaker emphasized that the most in-demand surgeries remain those for treating coronary heart disease, valvular defects, and cardiac arrhythmias. These include coronary artery bypass grafting, heart valve replacement and repair, as well as pacemaker implantation.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that doctors in Ust-Kamenogorsk performed a complex transplant surgery on a patient who had suffered cardiac arrest. A young man was admitted to the hospital with a severe injury. His heart stopped during the operation, but doctors managed to save him.
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