Since the start of the year, 3.5 million Kazakh citizens have received free medicines worth more than 213 billion tenge, the Social Health Insurance Fund reported, according to infohub.kz.
The Fund assured that there are no financing problems: the annual budget is nearly 350 billion tenge, and all invoices for the first half of the year to SK-Pharmacy have been settled.
According to the Fund, a total of 348.7 billion tenge has been allocated for outpatient drug provision. Of this, 190.5 billion tenge is under the guaranteed volume of free medical care (GOBMP) and 158.2 billion tenge under compulsory social health insurance (OSMS).
The Fund emphasized that payment for medicines is made only after SK-Pharmacy dispenses them to patients and provides supporting documents. As of September 22, 3.5 million Kazakhs had received free medicines worth 213.8 billion tenge.
The Fund added that all invoices for the first half of the year have been settled. For January–June, 108.4 billion tenge was paid. The next tranches will be transferred as soon as the eHealth Center provides updated data for digital reconciliation.
Earlier it was reported that since the beginning of the year, the Fund has transferred 1.6 trillion tenge to healthcare providers under GOBMP and OSMS. Nearly half of that amount was allocated to advance payments to clinics.
In addition, the Social Health Insurance Fund expanded the pilot of the Qalqan digital platform to 16 medical organizations. The system will integrate planning, procurement, monitoring, and payment for medical care. The full digitalization of all processes is planned to be completed by the end of the current year.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that the country is changing its approach to financial control in the compulsory social health insurance (OSMS) system.