“Ensuring the Population’s Access to Domestic Medicines Is a Strategic Priority”

The Shymkent City Health Department and the South Kazakhstan Medical Academy jointly held a large-scale event at the academy titled “Ensuring the Population’s Access to Domestic Medicines Is a Strategic Priority.”
The meeting brought together specialists from the pharmaceutical sector and heads of manufacturing enterprises to thoroughly discuss the development of Kazakhstan’s domestic pharmaceutical industry and the support of innovation, as outlined in the President’s Address “Kazakhstan in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: Current Challenges and Their Solutions Through Fundamental Digital Transformation.” It should be noted that active work is currently underway in the city to explain and discuss the President’s Address. Meetings are being held in accordance with a special schedule approved by the Deputy Akim of the city, S. Kuranbek. Today’s event, organized as part of these efforts, was opened by the Vice-Rector for Educational Work and Social Affairs of the South Kazakhstan Medical Academy, Sälim Erbol Qaltursynuly, who introduced the participants. At the meeting, Kemal Niyaz, Head of the Department for Providing Medical Organizations with Medicines under the Shymkent Health Department, delivered a report on the uninterrupted supply of medical institutions with pharmaceuticals. Kemal Aidaruly noted that supporting domestic manufacturers of medicines and medical products is one of the key priorities of state policy. He also emphasized that this approach ensures the availability of affordable and high-quality products for the population and contributes to import substitution in the healthcare sector. Currently, 17 enterprises are operating in the city’s pharmaceutical sector. Among them are major production facilities such as “Himfarm” JSC and “EcoPharm International” LLP. During the event, Sefi Karaev, Director for Production and Investment Projects at “Himfarm” JSC, highlighted the importance of attracting investment to the pharmaceutical industry. Over the first nine months of this year, “Himfarm” produced pharmaceutical products worth 54.7 billion tenge. Ashkhat Akhmetov, Managing Director of “EcoPharm International” LLP, provided an in-depth overview of the ECOPHARM group of companies. According to him, within the framework of the “Business Roadmap – 2020” program, five major production facilities were launched and 15 investment projects with a total value of 30 million USD (16 billion tenge) were implemented. As a result, 500 new jobs were created, and the number of manufactured medical items exceeded 5,000. For example, “ECO-PHARM” LLP produces 61 types of protective clothing and masks for medical personnel and patients. “EcoPharm International” LLP manufactures more than 460 types of medical products. Based on scientific research, “Daryn-2030” LLP was established to produce biological materials such as sheep and horse blood, horse serum, dried blood, and other biological products.
“GreenCrossEco” LLP produces 8 types of insulin needles for diabetes patients and 12 types of ELISA kits for virus detection. “Marai E7 Group” LLP manufactures 5 types of polyurethane bandages, 14 types of polyurethane splints, 3 types of plaster bandages, and more than 1,000 types of implants for osteosynthesis. All production facilities are certified according to the international standard ISO 13485. At the conclusion of the event, Rauzhan Kozykeeva, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, delivered the closing remarks, noting that students of the academy currently undergo industrial and educational practice at 16 production bases. Rauzhan Aidarbekkyzy also expressed confidence that the directions outlined in the President’s Address will give new momentum to the development of domestic pharmaceutical production.