A new director has been appointed at the Almaty branch of the Republican Physics and Mathematics School (RFMSH), where a mass poisoning of students occurred earlier: Almas Mukhambetovich Kungozhin, a PhD in Mathematics, has taken over as director, the website infohub.kz reports.
The school's press service said Kungozhin is himself a former RFMSH student. His predecessor, Meirbek Meirlan Edigeruly, has completed his tenure in the post.
The press service also said Kungozhin previously headed the school from 2018 to 2023. Over the years he worked at RFMSH as a teacher, a coach preparing students for math olympiads and a deputy director for specialized and experimental work. Since September 2023, he had served as first deputy chairman of the Management Board of the RFMSH non-profit joint-stock company.
Earlier, dozens of students at the Republican Physics and Mathematics School in Almaty were hospitalized with symptoms of acute intestinal infection, prompting inspections at the school. Almaty's public health department said 48 students were hospitalized, while six more children were isolated at the boarding school and kept under medical observation. Kazakhstan's Ministry of Health identified violations at the school and commented on measures being taken. Police later said a criminal case had been opened over the incident.
On October 15, it was reported that the number of hospitalized students at the Almaty branch of RFMSH had risen to 55. On October 22, reports said all patients had been discharged from hospital. In addition, Almaty's sanitary and epidemiological control department disclosed new details of the investigation into the incident at RFMSH — E. coli and staphylococcus were found during the inspection.