Healthcare in Kazakhstan

If you can afford the SOS clinic and membership ... it  is the really good, however very expensive. There are various private hospitals than seem to be good, however I have not made use of these facilities and prefer doing check-ups in my own country.
Private health care is definitely the way to go

Thanks for your help CTulip!

Regards
Armand

Hi,

In order to help expats and soon-to-be expats, we would like to invite you to share your experience on this topic, with updated info on the healthcare system.

Thank you in advance,

Julie
Expat.com Team

I obtain my health care through an expat health care system called Interteach. They are OK. What I do not understand is their policies on paying or not paying for prescriptions. i have always paid, yet it says on its brochures that the prescripts are free up to a certain amount of tenge.

Prescriptions obtained through Interteach are fee of charge, up to a maximum of 30000T per year, if they are taken to an approved Interteach pharmacy.

I have never had a free prescription filled through Interteach. That is my issue with them. I have gone to the pharmacy they direct me to use. Never has it been free. Never. There is always a cost.

There is a second issue with Interteach, and that is the need to always have a translator available. No one at the facility where I go speaks any English. So, I need to have a translator accompany me to the doctor's office all the time. Or, I need to have someone on the phone who can translate for me. Or, I need to have Google Translate on my cell phone for translation. It would be good if Interteach could address this issue of translation, since its clients are not Russian or Kazakh speaking.

My third issue with medial care kn Kazakhstan is related to translation. I went to an optician near my job to obtain a pair of glasses. I had a prescription, in English. For some odd reason, I 'thought' this prescription was perhaps uniform internationally, and that the optician could prescribe my glasses, based on the given prescription. Wrong. The prescription was not filled based on the prescription provided to the optician.  They did an examination, and prescribed glasses from their exam (which is what opticians normally do when there is not a prescription. Or, if they want to check if the prescription is accurate.) It was not the prescription I needed.

In another setting I went to a dentist to determine what was the source of pain in a tooth. They did an x-ray and determined that I needed a root canal. I demurred, as root canals are serious operations and I did not receive the diagnosis and explanation I needed to convince me why a filling was not an option. I feel that translation was key here, but also I feel that this dentist did not usually 'explain' procedures to his patients, or perhaps he felt no need to 'explain' why I needed a root canal to me. I did not go back to the clinic.

The moral is - translation is key in any medical situation.

May I say I was trying to help and you are not the only person who uses Interteach. There are a lot of people here who have good advice to give, not just you!!

Hi STM,
My experience with Interteach are very similar, they are supposed to have someone who can speak good English, but most of time they don't we ended up using hands, signs and Google Translate. Our "International Team management" are hard to contact outside "office" hours. When you are seeking treatment be firm and assertive about what you need done or checked, else the just want to get you out ASAP. When you are clear about your treatment they are generally better than the public option, which are unlikely to be available to most oversea visitors/workers. The like to use their "gadgets" ie UHF machine or similar. I had dental treatment and the wanted to pull one of my tooth out, which I declined and insisted on treatment until my return to London for NHS treatment. It still needed pulling out, but I rather trust the NHS any day than you know who(!).
As for the prescription I had to pay for them at Interteach and my regular medications are difficult to find in my city(Aktobe). I managed to get enough prescription from London during my holiday breaks otherwise I would have problems. Also there are medications which you buy over the counter without prescription, but may not "trusted" or up to "Western medicine standard".
Lastly the private health system is better than the public health system in KZ, but don't think it is up to Western standard. The staff are always helpful and hard working, but you have to be assertive and have someone who can translate for you. So don't accept a job/post unless there are medical cover included in the package and it may not include your "Partner" wife/husband.

There are some good posts here. I think a lot of it is down to individual's expectations and the realisation that Kazakhstan is still a third-world country. I agree that I would not relish the idea of staying or being treated in a Kazakhstan hospital, but I know some people who have and have survived the experience.
I have looked into International Healthcare insurance and the best quote I was given was for #300 pounds per month.

Interteach isn't a legitimate insurance company. Acccording to a lady next to me on a flight who works in the insurance sector, they're known for denying claims; and I personally confirmed as much when their "doctor" denied my allergy claims by saying that allergies aren't real: her brilliant explanation was that it's just the shape of my nose.  After paying for allergy tests myself, which proved my suspicions correct,  they found some other excuse for denying the claims. And they've generally denied my other claims at the command of their director, though the guy who approves reimbursements seems eager to help otherwise.  I'd say there's little risk they'll go bankrupt since they deny costs frivolously, but they might get caught eventually or figured out by the public. Anyone know how to report fraudulent business practices here?

As for the quality of doctors and chiropractic, I've been able to find competent professionals here, which i wasn't able to do in Saudi. I usually find good people by asking for recommendations.