Kazakhstan publishes figures showing a 20.4% reduction in doctor shortages

Kazakhstan’s government released a healthcare workforce and infrastructure review on 26 October. Its figures show doctor shortages falling by 20.4% at the end of 2025 compared with 2023, including a 28.3% decline in rural areas. These are multi-year comparisons, not changes over a single day.

The review describes a workforce exceeding 280,000: approximately 84,000 doctors and 196,000 professionals with secondary medical qualifications. General practice, internal medicine, paediatrics, cardiology, surgery and anaesthesiology-intensive care remain areas of demand.

Social support reached 1,760 doctors in 2025. Housing was provided to 727 specialists, while 529 doctors in shortage specialities received 8.5 million tenge each under a requirement to work in rural areas for at least five years. Those figures describe particular support measures rather than every vacancy nationwide.

The government also reported 1,003 medical institutions opened over five years and measures to strengthen practical training. Eight medical universities, seven faculties at multidisciplinary universities and 17 research organisations train doctors. A lower aggregate shortage does not establish that every speciality or locality has enough staff; the review itself identifies continuing recruitment needs.

Primary source: https://primeminister.kz/ru/news/reviews/ispolnenie-poslaniya-prezidenta-v-kazahstane-za-5-let-otkryto-bolee-1-000-novyh-meduchrezhdeniy-i-na-204-sokrashchen-deficit-kadrov-32035.

Photo: Kazakhstan Government Press Service, CC BY 4.0. The image shows the Beskol clinic as an illustration of healthcare infrastructure.