Prime Minister Responds to Blood Service Concerns as Donor Numbers Lag

There are few donors, but does the system work? The Prime Minister answered questions about blood problems in the country. New regulation and incentives for blood donors may appear in Kazakhstan. This was told by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, responding to the senators' request about problems in this system, Orda.kz reports.

Earlier, the deputies admitted that the number of regular donors in the country is decreasing, and the indicator remains at about 12 donations per thousand people – significantly below the WHO benchmarks.

In his response, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov said that Kazakhstan had already built a centralized blood service system. According to him, there are now 19 organizations – from republican to city – and the entire system meets modern safety and quality requirements. He separately added that the institutions have introduced two-stage blood screening, use modern processing methods and strengthened control over infectious and immunological safety.

The Ministry of Health is also developing an action plan for the development of blood donation until 2028, providing for the improvement of state policy, taking into account the expansion of the list of medical services, including hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.the message says. 

It should be noted that the deputies also complained about the system of monetary incentives for donation. According to them, the payment format has not been changed for a long time and has actually ceased to provide incentives.

Based on the answer, the government is also considering this issue. Bektenov says that they are now working out the possibility of increasing compensation for food to donors within the framework of the budget for 2026–2028.

Speaking about the development of donation, Bektenov focused on "civil responsibility." He added that Donor's Day is held annually in the country, and information campaigns, lectures and meetings with students are launched.

Also, in order to expand the institution of donation and popularize the movement, cooperation agreements have been concluded with a number of organizations: Astana Triathlon, Chaplin Cinema, Kinopark Theatres, Kazakh National University of Arts named after Kulyash Bayseitova, Barys, Food Solutions, Zebra Coffee, Galanz Bottlers, Mereke Charitable Foundation.Bektenov noted. 

The personnel problem that the deputies talked about is recognized by the government, but described more as a workflow issue. Bektenov said that the Ministry of Health has already revised the rules for assigning qualifications, and certificates are now issued through electronic services. At the same time, he specified that the issue of increasing the salaries of transfusiology specialists is still being considered.

The Prime Minister devoted a separate block of the answer to the issue of digitalization. He noted that the Infodonor system is already working – a database where the blood path from the donor to the hospital is tracked. In the answer, the head of government indicated that by the end of 2026 a single repository of medical data will be launched, where information about donations will be displayed.

Original author: Saule Abdykamit

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