In 2025, the institute's staff conducted monitoring at the NCMCH, which revealed a lack of medical equipment and medications.
“Many parents have lost trust in traditional medicine, are experiencing financial difficulties, and seek help from healers and folk medicine for religious reasons. For example, in one case, the parents of a child with leukemia, after achieving remission, refused traditional treatment and switched to alternative methods, which ultimately led to the progression of the disease and the child's death a year later,” representatives of the Center reported.
As of the end of August 2025, about 60 children were receiving treatment in the NCMCH hospitals. The number of new cases of cancer among children has increased — if in 2014 there were about 70 cases recorded, since 2023 this figure has exceeded 200. However, the increase in cases is attributed not only to a rise in incidence but also to improved diagnostics, as emphasized in the report. The most common diagnoses are acute lymphoblastic leukemia, brain tumors, neuroblastomas, and nephroblastomas.
Ombudsman Jamila Dzhamanbaeva proposed implementing a new strategy for monitoring and preventing cancer, as well as creating a comprehensive plan to combat these diseases for 2025-2030. She called for allocating funds in the republican budget for the maintenance of medical equipment and revising the conditions for purchasing medications for cancer patients. Additionally, she highlighted the importance of working with families of patients who refuse treatment, as well as the need to provide them with social and psychological support.
