Astana Lacks Ambulances. Cars Respond to Calls

Astana Residents are dissatisfied with the ambulance service's work. They claim delays and the use of private cars to respond to calls. The capital's health department commented on the situation, Orda.kz reports.

On a local Instagram page, a user said that he called an ambulance for his pregnant wife. The doctors arrived only an hour later.

It turns out that we were driving a regular private car. Question for the government: what is going on? Where are our tax payments, where is the compulsory health insurance? Have you all lost it? What if the person dies while you're getting there? This is outrageousness at the highest level, the man said. 

A similar incident occurred in early August. An ambulance took more than 40 minutes to reach a 15-year-old teenager who had been stabbed three times.

The Astana Health Department explained that since the beginning of the summer season, the number of ambulance calls has increased, especially those of the third and fourth categories of urgency. The increase is due to the growth in the population and visitors.

To prevent a shortage of ambulance transport and reduce waiting times, the city ambulance station has entered into a contract for the rental of passenger cars. These cars are used for calls of the third and fourth categories, where patient transportation or specialized medical equipment is not required, the department reported.

The head of the public health department, Aliya Rustemova, confirmed that only 59 of the vehicles are in working order, and another 60 are undergoing repairs. 

According to the regulations on providing emergency care, approved by the order of the Ministry of Health, the fourth category can be served by passenger cars. That is, I want to say that 80% of all calls that we service are related to the third and fourth categories. Only 20% are the first and second categories, which require special vehicles,she told reporters at a briefing. 

Astana's medical workers have long spoken out about a shortage of vehicles and their wear and tear. In 2023, a former ambulance driver spoke about problems at a station, including the use of unsuitable motor oils and a shortage of spare parts. According to him, the station's fleet is badly worn out, leading to frequent breakdowns.

The vehicles parked on the station's territory are not working. Either their engines have failed, or there are not enough spare parts. Diesel oil is poured into gasoline engines, and gasoline oil into diesel engines. Also, for some reason, there is a constant shortage of spare parts, and in the summer, ordinary tap water is used instead of antifreeze. So, the engine quickly wears out and becomes unusable, he said. 

In May 2024, doctors also reported this. According to them, many machines break down and are not repaired in time, causing equipment to break down quickly. Of the 120 machines supposed to be in service, only 65 are operational. There are delays of many hours. Doctors have also spoken about low salaries and a shortage of medical consumables. 

In July, Astana Akim and Zhenis Kasymbek vowed to look into the problem. He noted that residents were making justified complaints about the work of the ambulance station. 

For example, the ambulance station's fleet currently consists of 145 vehicles. Some of them require repair. To solve the problem, an external technical audit of the ambulance fleet was conducted. Contracts were concluded with suppliers for the repair of ambulance vehicles. To increase the number of vehicles in service, for calls of the fourth category of urgency, we are temporarily renting an additional number of vehicles, he wrote on Instagram. 

Murat Orazbayev, the former head of the city ambulance station, was convicted of corruption. He was accused of receiving a bribe of 676 thousand tenge from the chief paramedic from 2022 to 2023. The bribe was for “assistance in providing the opportunity to conduct educational practice in medical colleges on a paid basis and for general patronage.” Orazbayev was fined a large amount.

The people who came to replace him began to aggressively change things. Employees of the Astana city ambulance station would file a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office against the new management.

They have claimed that the new management, namely the Deputy Director for Economic and Administrative Support Yermek Ramazanov and lawyer Yerzat Bazarbekov, has systematically infringed on their rights and tried to force them to forge documents and spy on their colleagues.

Original Author: Artyom Volkov