New rules for emergency medical care took effect in Kazakhstan on October 13, 2026: citizens can now track the movement of an ambulance crew on a map in real time, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to an order from the Ministry of Health, to receive the state service "Calling an Ambulance," Kazakhstanis must dial "103" or use mobile applications — messengers and chatbots — indicating their geolocation.
Once a crew has been assigned, the medical organization is required to automatically notify the patient and give them the ability to follow the doctors' movement in real time.
In addition, dispatchers at ambulance stations will forward calls for urgent conditions to polyclinic crews — primary health care (PHC) organizations. The forwarding will only operate during polyclinic working hours: from 08:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and from 08:00 to 12:00 on Saturdays. Polyclinic doctors themselves handle such visits from 08:00 to 20:00 on weekdays.
If an urgent call comes in on a Sunday or during a polyclinic's non-working hours, a standard ambulance station crew will be dispatched to the patient.
Recall that in the autumn of 2024 a scandal erupted over new amendments by the Ministry of Health concerning ambulance calls. At that time, information spread on social media that crews would allegedly stop responding to calls of the IV urgency category — for minor injuries, high fever or spikes in blood pressure — at night and on weekends.
Amid the public outcry, the ministry had to issue official clarifications. The department's press secretary, Aigerim Urazaliyeva, said the interpretation of the draft order had been incorrect. The Ministry of Health assured that when calling "103," medical care is provided in full regardless of the call category, and that involving polyclinic mobile crews during working hours is aimed solely at making the service more responsive.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that ambulance services in Kazakhstan receive around 25,000 calls per day.