Abdyrazakova reported that the situation with equipping the center with medical equipment has improved thanks to funding from "Kumtor."
According to her, the one billion soms allocated for medications has allowed the implementation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which has become an important achievement for the country.
She noted that there are many opponents of targeted therapy who argue that one should start with basic medications. However, in cases such as HER2-positive cancer, basic therapy is ineffective. Targeted therapy is necessary to block growth hormones that promote the proliferation of cancer cells. "This is indeed a breakthrough for Kyrgyzstan in improving the quality of treatment," she emphasized.
Gulmira Abdyrazakova also mentioned that there was an attempt to completely transition the oncology service to a paid basis, which would create additional difficulties for patients. "There were individuals who claimed that funding for oncology was unnecessary. Thanks to the efforts of many people, patients can now receive free high-quality targeted medications," she added.
Despite this, according to Abdyrazakova, the actual need for funding amounts to 4.5 - 5 billion soms per year to serve more than 30,000 patients. "This amount is necessary to cover all needs. Often, diseases are detected too late, requiring more complex and expensive treatment, which also complicates the situation," she noted. Gulmira urged people to take care of their health and undergo examinations at least once a year.
Unfortunately, funding for the next year has not increased. "Although one billion is not bad, it is only about 20% of the necessary volume. We requested at least 2.5 billion soms. Problems with the procurement of medications arose at the State Enterprise 'Kyrgyzpharmacia': only 800 million out of the billion was allocated, and 300 million remained unused. Now we are being told that we cannot ask for more if we do not utilize the allocated funds. But this is not the fault of the doctors or the management; it is a problem within the procurement system," she explained.
Gulmira Abdyrazakova assured that the patient community will continue its work to ensure access to necessary treatment for all those in need.
