Who comes to Kazakhstan for treatment and why: Health Ministry reveals statistics

Where patients come from for treatment

The Ministry of Healthcare reported that the largest increase came from patients from Russia, China, India and Turkey. At the same time, the ministry noted that there remains a steady flow of patients from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

According to the Bureau of National Statistics, back in 2022, about two percent of foreign tourists came to Kazakhstan specifically to receive medical care. At that time, most of these patients were citizens of CIS countries.

What services foreigners come to Kazakhstan for

According to the Ministry of Healthcare, the most in-demand areas remain cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, oncology, reproductive medicine, plastic surgery, dentistry, high-precision diagnostics, check-up programs and sanatorium-resort treatment.

Despite the growing number of foreign patients, the ministry believes that the development of medical tourism is being hampered by the lack of a unified system for organizing this sector.

“There are individual clinics, technologies and foreign patients, but there is no unified route, clear packages, active international promotion or responsibility assigned to each region and each organization. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a model with the functions of each participant clearly defined,” First Vice Minister of Healthcare Timur Sultangaziyev said during the meeting.

The Ministry of Healthcare said it is now developing a unified state model for the development of medical tourism.

It provides for the creation of a digital platform to track the flow of medical tourists, the launch of a unified operational window, the introduction of common quality standards, as well as full support for foreign patients with clear routing.