President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s working trip to Almaty kicked off with a visit to a newly opened branch of the Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital named after Izatima Zhekenova.
The Head of State examined the wards equipped with modern equipment, designed to provide inpatient medical care for 500 people.
President Tokayev was informed about the medical and demographic situation in the city and the measures taken to tackle COVID-19, as well as the activities of the emergency medical service.
The President had a warm conversation with medical workers, touching upon the issues of further development of the national health service, equipping medical organizations with the necessary equipment, updating the bed stock and infrastructure, as well as increasing doctors’ salaries.
“The goal is to bring the salaries of medical workers to twice the level of the entire economy by 2023. Priority will be given to the development of primary health care. Unfortunately, we missed this area at the time. The epidemic has shown the fallacy of such actions. We need to take our mistakes very seriously and correct them. Certainly, the medicine will be in the sphere of our closest and priority attention,” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
The Head of State pointed out the importance of preparing for a potential new wave of coronavirus, while all resources should be mobilized to protect the life and health of our people.
“At the moment, the situation is difficult throughout the world. There is a second wave of COVID-19 in Europe and America. In these circumstances, we must remain vigilant and be prepared. A good lesson was learned from the first wave of the pandemic. This experience will be useful to us. Of course, it was difficult, some mistakes were made, including by the Health Ministry. We had to correct these mistakes on the go. But any experience, even the most bitter is useful. So let’s be prepared for the second wave. And then, together with the entire world and the international community, we must overcome all difficulties with dignity,” the President said.
At the end of the meeting, President Tokayev thanked the doctors for their dedicated work in the difficult conditions of the fight against the pandemic.
