By 11:30, many people who had been waiting since early morning still had not been able to see a doctor.
“I arrived at eight in the morning. First, I need to get a referral, then pay at the cashier and undergo fluorography. This takes two to three hours. There are still seven people in front of me. God knows when I will get in. I hope I can make it before lunch,” shared one of the visitors.
Many others also express dissatisfaction with the disorganization of the process.
“I have been waiting for forty minutes. Everything is very poorly organized, yet they say there are no queues,” complained one of the residents.
Another man reported that he had already been in line for an hour, with 10-11 people left in front of him. A girl waiting for her turn said she came only to obtain her license, not to replace it.
“I am a student and getting my license for the first time. I didn’t expect such a frenzy. Do I have to skip my university classes to wait for my turn? This is unacceptable. I am just shocked and hope that my turn comes today, otherwise I will have to come back,” she said.
Another driver noted that there is a separate queue for each doctor.
“This is already the second queue I am standing in today. In the first one, I processed the necessary permit at 09:15 - I waited there for an hour and a half. Here, it seems I will have to wait a couple more hours to see the doctor,” he shared.
The Start of the Frenzy Back in October
According to the director of the Family Medicine Center No. 7, Aiza Soltogulova, the increase in interest for the form 083 began not yesterday or in December. The first queues started appearing in late October - early November. This coincided with the start of issuing licenses for taxi drivers and the extension of training periods in driving schools to 14 months.“Usually, those who apply for the certificate are either getting their license for the first time or have lost it. But during this period, there was a massive influx. In addition to young people, elderly individuals and foreigners, likely working in taxis, also came. We were processing more than 80 people a day just for the certificate,” she said.
Pressure on Medical Staff
She noted that the workload on medical staff remains high. After the New Year holidays, doctors sign 30 to 50 certificates daily and continue to see patients who need examinations.
Medical staff note that under normal conditions, one specialist should see no more than 12 patients per shift, spending 20 minutes with each. However, due to the large influx of patients, doctors are forced to attend to 30-40 people a day.
“Because of this, we have very little time left for chronic and dispensary patients. Specialists are almost entirely occupied with health checks,” the Family Medicine Center adds.
Pressure on Diagnostic Services
Additional pressure has also fallen on fluorography machines. Doctors report that instead of the norm of 20-25 patients per day, the machine serves about 100 patients, including drivers, schoolchildren, and workers from various enterprises. This poses a danger to the specialists working with the equipment as well.Queues are observed in almost all family medicine centers in Bishkek. In one of them, doctors express dissatisfaction with the excessive flow of patients and the lack of additional payment for overtime. As medical staff note, due to the influx of people, it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to manage their work.
Queues at the Family Medicine Center.
