Former National Guard Conscript Mukhtar Yerbayan Sent Back to Türkiye for Treatment

Former National Guard conscript Mukhtar Yerbayan has been transported on a special Ministry of Internal Affairs flight to Istanbul for treatment at the Medipol clinic, Orda.kz reports.

According to Kazakhstan’s Health Ministry, the decision was made by a special commission. Yerbayan will undergo neuromodulatory therapy and a course of supportive treatment in Türkiye.

Earlier, Yerbayan had been treated in hospitals in Almaty and Astana, and had also been in Türkiye from August 2024 to January 2025. After returning, he was under the supervision of doctors in Kazakhstan, the ministry said.

Doctors from the Ministry of Internal Affairs oversaw the transfer, noting his condition is stable. He currently breathes through a tracheostomy.

Yerbayan has been in a coma since suffering a traumatic brain injury during his military service in late 2023. His relatives maintain he was assaulted, while the military insists it was a common incident. It was initially claimed that he fell in a bathroom and hit his head. 

After his first course of treatment in Türkiye, his condition improved — he was able to move with assistance and partially eat on his own. At the time, more than 220 million tenge was raised for his care.

Criminal cases were opened both over his injury and against the doctors involved in his treatment.

Original Author: Ruslan Loginov