Kazakh Senate considers draft law on healthcare

Kazakh Senate considers draft law on healthcare

It has been proposed to establish social guarantees for medical and pharmaceutical workers in Kazakhstan. The country is also set to enhance the status and attractiveness of the medical profession. The members of the Senate, an Upper House of the Kazakh Parliament, considered a draft law on healthcare in two readings and agreed with the main innovations of the document, yet the MPs returned some articles to the Mazhilis for revision. In particular, they suggested banning e-cigarettes advertising and removed administrative responsibility for their sale, noting that this provision is already covered in Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code. The draft law was presented by MP Ainur Argynbekova to the session participants. According to her, the amendments to the document include humanizing the responsibility of health workers and doctors as well. The main legislative innovation is the implementation of a model for insuring their professional liability, which involves considering patient complaints by an independent commission to resolve conflicts on site, namely within the medical institution or organization.

“The independent expert commission comprises subject matter specialists, representatives of the patient and professional medical associations, professional mediators and insurance companies. Employees of the medical organization are not included in this independent commission. In case the patient and their relatives are not satisfied with the consideration of the complaint, they are eligible to appeal to the Committee for Medical and Pharmaceutical Control, law enforcement agencies or judicial authorities,” said Kazakh First Vice Minister of Health Timur Sultangaziyev.