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61ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ
MEDICAL TOURISM IN KAZAKHSTAN Kulakhmetova G.1, Yessim A.2
1Kulakhmetova Gulbaram - Doctor PhD;
Yessim Ayana - Master degree Student, DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM, KAZAKH ACADEMY OF SPORT AND TOURISM, ALMATY, REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN
Abstract: today, the development trends of the world's leading countries are aimed at creating optimal conditions for improving the quality of life of citizens. Kazakhstan, whose goal is to enter the top thirty advanced countries in the world, is also heading for the transition to a socially oriented type of economic development. The development of recreation and tourism infrastructure in the country will contribute to creating conditions for improving the working capacity, maintaining and strengthening the health of citizens.
Health promotion and active lifestyle have become a trend in modern society. Every year, the number of people who strive to maintain good physical shape and, if necessary, receive quality medical care in a timely manner is growing. In the modern world, a new direction of tourism is becoming popular - medical tourism. More and more people want to get qualified medical care.
Keywords: medical tourism, health, foreign tourists, health protection.
Introduction. Tourism today is a very important link in many areas, especially in the social and economic spheres. Thus, tourism, as part of the economic sphere, is quite a profitable business, which, accordingly, benefits the economy. Tourism also affects the culture of behavior and education of society, and also benefits society in the form of meeting personal needs for recreation and obtaining new information.
After gaining independence in 1991, Kazakhstan had to develop its own health policy and planning system. As for the
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health of the population, Kazakhstan is characterized by the following problems: low life expectancy, high infant and maternal mortality, high incidence of tuberculosis, and the developing HIV/AIDS epidemic. The country's healthcare system has an extensive network of research institutes and research centers, 6 higher educational institutions and 23 medical colleges, an Institute for advanced training of doctors, 65 research and production associations of a medical nature, and public medical academies [1, p. 34].
Improvement of the healthcare management system is one of the priority areas of the State program of healthcare reform and development. In 2004, a new quality control system was introduced, which is implemented under the supervision of The Committee for quality control of medical services of the Ministry of health.
Today in Kazakhstan, great attention is paid to the development of medical tourism, which is one of the most important items of income of the national budget. Therefore, in the picturesque places of the country, modern resort and Wellness complexes are being created that specialize in providing a wide variety of medical services. In particular, the priority areas are traditional Oriental medicine, orthopedics, treatment of cardiovascular diseases and gynecology.
In addition, thanks to the attraction of foreign capital, Kazakhstan has created a fairly extensive network of private dental clinics with a European level of service, where prices are much lower than in the United States, Russia or EU countries.
The research purpose identify health problems of the population of Kazakhstan, analyze prospects for the development of this type of tourism.
Methods and organization of the research. For this research were used general scientific research methods such as observation, description, and analysis.
The research results and their discussion. Currently, as part of the restructuring of the healthcare system in Kazakhstan, work is being completed on the creation of a "National medical holding", which will unite the country's leading state clinics. It is
planned to invite experienced managers from Europe and the United States to manage it, which will not only significantly increase the level of public services, but also develop medical tourism in Kazakhstan at a fundamentally new level.
In the meantime, foreign tourists can only count on emergency medical care or service in a few private clinics, where, by the way, organ and bone transplantation operations, artificial insemination by IVF, and treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases are successfully performed today [2, p. 112].
During the 67th Congress of the General Assembly of the world Federation of hydrotherapy and climate treatment FEMTEC, Deputy Prime Minister Gulshara Abdykalikova announced that Kazakhstan will become one of the leading Eurasian centers of medical tourism. She further explained: "In the development strategy of Kazakhstan until 2050, the Head of state indicated that our country will become one of the leading Eurasian centers of medical tourism. We have all the conditions for this. One of the government's strategic goals is to increase the life expectancy of Kazakhstan is to 80 years and above. To do this, it is important to take preventive measures to maintain a healthy lifestyle, exercise and proper nutrition. Research shows that the cost-effectiveness of Spa treatment can reduce inpatient treatment by 25% on average, and the number of visits to outpatient clinics for diseases by 10.8%. In General, there is an increase in the number of health resorts and rehabilitation organizations in the Republic. At the same time, it is important to improve the quality and efficiency of providing health care to the population. The services of domestic health resorts and rehabilitation organizations must meet international standards [3, p. 64].
Accordingly, we can safely agree with this, because throughout Kazakhstan there are a considerable number of well-known sanatoriums and rest homes that are actively in demand both in the field of treatment, recovery, and in order to restore strength during the holidays, because all these sanatoriums and rest homes are located closer to nature and clean air, and this has always attracted and still attracts both typical tourists and those who want to improve their health.
Medical tourism is becoming more and more popular in Kazakhstan every year. According to the analysis of past years, it was revealed that tourists prefer to be treated in Kazakhstan than in other CIS countries. The most popular services are: spinal hernia treatment, in vitro fertilization, heart surgery, and many other medical services.
The level of service is growing every year, training and retraining of specialists in Kazakhstan in the field of medicine is carried out.
Tourists come to Kazakhstan even from foreign countries. The largest number of tourists arrived in 2015 from England, followed by the United States, visitors were also from Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Bulgaria and even the Philippines.
One of the reasons for the influx of tourists to the country is that prices for medical services in Kazakhstan are much cheaper than in other countries. For example, bone marrow transplantation in Kazakhstan will cost 50 thousand dollars, and in Russia-90 thousand dollars [4].
The most popular services among foreigners who visited Kazakhstan in 2015 were microsurgical removal of a spinal disc herniation, in vitro fertilization, cardiac surgery on heart valves and uterine artery embolization. The main work on the development of medical tourism is carried out by subsidiaries of JSC "national medical holding", where specialized and highly specialized assistance is provided. Since then, the geography of countries where patients come from has grown significantly. "The holding's clinics began to treat patients from the United States, Japan, and Italy, whereas previously it was only patients from Russia and Kyrgyzstan. In 2015, services were provided to 832 foreign citizens, including those working on the territory of Kazakhstan, as well as those who came from the territory of the CIS countries» [5].
In recent years, Kazakhstan, which has a huge potential, has begun to actively develop the tourism industry. Today, a new trend of international tourism is being formed in the country - medical tourism. Every year, Kazakhstan is visited by about two thousand foreign citizens for the purpose of receiving medical care (i.e. as medical tourists). According to various data, in 2017, the number of
treated foreign patients in the hospital of key medical organizations (planned treatment) it was more than 1,600 people. While, in 2018, this number increased and exceeded 2,400 medical tourists. It is also worth noting that in 2017 and 2018, the number of foreign citizens who received health treatments in health resort organizations reached 23 and 24 thousand people, respectively.
Domestic medical tourism is also growing in popularity among the local population. Citizens are increasingly moving within the country to the receipt of medical services. If earlier Kazakhstan is had to leave the country for the treatment of certain types of diseases, now it is possible to seek help from local medical organizations. Moreover, within the Guaranteed volume of free medical care, many types of treatment are covered by the state budget [6, p. 95].
Currently, medical tourism is developing dynamically mainly in the cities of Nursultan and Almaty, as well as in Mangistau, Aktobe, Zhambyl, Turkestan and North Kazakhstan regions.
According to the Ministry of health and social development, most medical tourists came from the UK (260 people). In second place -the United States. 111 patients came from there. In addition, 51 medical tourists from Kyrgyzstan and 50 from Turkey arrived. There were 44 patients from Russia, 35 from Bulgaria, 23 from Sri Lanka, and 27 from the Philippines. In total, the services were used by citizens of 31 countries of the world. «The most popular services in 2015 among foreign citizens in the holding's subsidiaries were microsurgical removal of a spinal disc herniation, in vitro fertilization, cardiac surgery on heart valves, and uterine artery embolization. The most common pathology among foreign patients is metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes» the Ministry said. Commenting on the development of medical tourism in Kazakhstan, representatives of the Ministry of health and social development reported that the cost of operations in the Republic is significantly lower than abroad. In particular, bone marrow transplantation in the country costs 51 thousand dollars. And in Russia, such an operation cost 90 thousand. Liver transplantation in Kazakhstan is five times cheaper than in Turkey. It costs about 20 thousand. A kidney
transplant in Kazakhstan costs 16 thousand dollars, and in Russia -40 thousand. [7, p. 156]
Conclusion. In conclusion, I would like to note that Kazakhstan has a considerable number of resorts, sanatoriums and rest homes that provide medical services. Generally, as everyone knows, these enterprises are visited by residents of Kazakhstan, less often by tourists from the CIS countries, in particular from Russia. But, very rarely, you can meet foreign tourists and only if here, in Kazakhstan, they are connected with a certain area by relatives or friends living in Kazakhstan, or foreign tourists have previously been acquainted with the area or enterprise where they are going to spend their vacation under certain circumstances.
Even with such indicators about tourists, it should be noted that Kazakhstan has quite a decent base for its development and increasing the flow of tourists not only domestic, but also from the countries of the near and, in particular, far abroad.
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4. Website about medicine in Kazakhstan [Electronic Resource]. URL: http://www.probirka.kz/services/medtourism.html/ (date of access: 27.11.2020).
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