Doctors Evicted From Service Housing In Petropavlovsk

Fifteen years ago, dozens of medical workers moved into the “Doctor’s House,” a five-story service building handed over by the regional akim.

At the time, the promise was clear: housing would be provided as long as they worked in healthcare. Now the building is being vacated, and doctors may be left without housing, Orda.kz reports.

Dilmurat Shavdulov, a top-category cardiologist, has saved dozens of lives over his years of service.

His wife, Dinara Omurzakova, an activist and member of the city public council, has stepped in:

When the former akim of North Kazakhstan region, Serik Bilyalov, handed us the keys, he said: ‘As long as you work in healthcare, you can live here.’ No deadlines were set. We had no concerns. And when eviction notices arrived last May, it came as a complete surprise. They hadn’t even held a meeting. They just said: ‘If you don’t leave voluntarily, we’ll evict you through the courts,’ she recalls. 

The notices were sent not only to the doctors, but also to four families of cultural workers who had also been given apartments in the building.

However, they were granted the right to privatize, just three days after the doctors were served eviction notices.

This is the main question we can’t answer anywhere: why were they allowed to privatize, but we weren’t? And it’s unlikely anyone will ever explain this, says Dinara.

One of the “privatized” apartments has already been sold. The new owner, like the cultural workers, has nothing to do with medicine.

Back then, young doctors didn’t receive generous start-up benefits like they do today. But many of them worked here faithfully for the required years.

Some do it like this: they come with their families, both receive start-up benefits, put the money in a deposit, and six months later the wife goes on maternity leave. She spends three years on leave, the husband works, and then they leave,  Dinara explains, describing how young specialists adapted state aid to their advantage.

Why hasn’t the region built more housing in this time? Those who could afford it bought homes as soon as they received the notice. But we couldn’t. We spent years saving for a down payment, invested in a pyramid scheme, and lost everything. On top of that, we’re still paying off a loan — we have two years left, Omurzakova says.

Some families are raising children alone, others have just returned from maternity leave, and still others care for disabled relatives.

Only those for whom these modest apartments are their only home remain in the “Doctor’s House.”

For two years, the families have been trying to prove their right to live there. The courts refused to even consider their first lawsuit, which alleged illegal actions by the housing commission.

The second — seeking privatization — was accepted, but with a caveat: the building is listed as a dormitory. By law, such apartments can be privatized, but only if they are not “temporary housing.”

The old contracts had no such clause.

When we requested the regulations for the ‘Doctor’s House,’ they weren’t provided right away. They were only adopted in October 2023. And now they’re cited everywhere, as if they suddenly outweigh the law, says Omurzakova.

In reality, the building is managed by the regional multidisciplinary hospital, while the owner is the regional Akimat. Yet neither can explain why some residents were granted housing rights while others are being evicted.

The doctors have already lost their court cases. They had demanded that the Akimat, the regional Health Department, and the Finance Department transfer the ‘Doctor’s House’ to the city’s municipal property so that privatization could begin.

But the court did not support them. At the same time, they received an eviction lawsuit from the building’s manager. Over more than two months of hearings, they failed to prove their right to stay.

Satisfy the plaintiff’s demand to evict Dilmurat Shavdulov, Renat Bizhanov, Anzhela Vetrova, Altynkyz Akanova, Tamara Garkush, and their families from the residential premises of the ‘Doctor’s House’ without providing alternative housing. Evict Saifiddin Abdrakhmanov and his family at the end of the heating season without providing alternative housing, announced Judge Bagdat Zhusupova of Petropavlovsk Court No. 2.

The latter family emphasized in court that they were ready to move voluntarily, but only after the heating season. Others, with minor children and disabled relatives in their care, will continue fighting for their legal right to spend the winter in livable conditions.

Medical workers say they intend to continue defending their rights and are even considering a strike. Some are prepared to set up tents near the “Doctor’s House.”

If no solution is found, they may leave the region in search of places where specialists are more valued, further worsening staff shortages and leaving emergency services understaffed.

Original Author: Kristina Yusicheva