In Kazakhstan, cancer care is provided to citizens at the state's expense. According to the Ministry of Health, more than 55,000 people receive free anti-tumor drug therapy every year, infohub.kz reports.
Patients have access to 150 modern anti-tumor drugs. These include 102 chemotherapy drugs, 45 targeted therapies and three immuno-oncology drugs. The medicines are provided under the guaranteed volume of free medical care (GBMP).
Beyond drug therapy, PET/CT scans, high-tech surgery and modern radiotherapy methods are also available in the country. Kazakhstan has 10 nuclear medicine centers equipped with 19 PET/CT scanners. There are also four cyclotron production complexes and seven single-photon emission computed tomography machines.
Oncology centers perform complex organ-preserving and reconstructive surgery, and also use minimally invasive and robot-assisted technologies. In certain cases, three-dimensional modeling, custom bone implants and navigation systems in neurosurgery are used.
Radiotherapy in the country is delivered using more than 40 machines, including 26 linear accelerators. About 15,000 patients receive such treatment each year.
In 2025, Kazakhstan also opened Central Asia's first proton therapy center. Adaptive, four-dimensional and stereotactic radiotherapy, as well as high-dose brachytherapy, have been introduced into oncology practice.
Consultations and diagnostics for cancer patients are provided on a "green corridor" basis — Kursiv Health previously examined how it works.
If a patient finds anything unclear about their treatment, the Ministry of Health recommends contacting their attending physician or the head of the department. Questions can also be directed to the patient support service of KazNIIOiR or the oncology center where the person is being treated.
The KazNIIOiR website lists the following patient support service number: 8 (775) 121-45-93. They are available from 08:30 to 17:00.
In addition, there are also simple, free international patient guides and recommendations from leading oncologists in plain language from NCCN.
Kursiv has reported that more than 42,000 new cancer cases were detected in Kazakhstan in a single year.