Medicine on the list but unavailable? How patients in Kazakhstan can check eligibility

A new Kazinform explainer published October 17 makes a crucial distinction: finding a medicine on an official list does not mean every patient can receive it free of charge. Kazakhstan provides eligible outpatient medicines through the guaranteed free care package or compulsory social health insurance when diagnosis, patient category and prescribing conditions match.

Check the rules

The central document is Health Ministry order No. ҚР ДСМ-75 of August 5, 2021, as currently amended. Check the disease, age or other patient category, formulation and extra indications, not just the drug name. Some changes adopted in May 2026 do not take effect until January 1, 2027; they should not be treated as current rules.

Start at the clinic to which you are registered. A doctor assesses the indications and writes a prescription if there is a basis. Buying a drug yourself and demanding reimbursement later is not the described free-dispensing procedure.

If it is out of stock

Ask the clinic why it is unavailable and when delivery is expected. If unresolved, contact the regional Medical and Pharmaceutical Control Committee department or the Social Health Insurance Fund. Keep the prescription and written responses.

The Health Ministry estimates 2026 medicine and medical-device needs under the two programmes at more than 567 billion tenge. A large procurement budget does not remove a patient’s right to ask when a prescribed product will actually be supplied.

Source: https://www.inform.kz/ru/kakie-lekarstva-vkazahstane-mozhno-poluchit-besplatno-v2026-godu-c6b22de8.