Kyrgyzstan has undertaken wide-ranging reforms of its health system in a challenging socioeconomic and political context. The country has developed two major health reform programmes after becoming independent: Manas (1996 to 2006) and Manas Taalimi (2006 to 2010). These reforms introduced comprehensive structural changes to the health care delivery system with the aim of strengthening primary health care, developing family medicine and restructuring the hospital sector.
Major service delivery improvements have included the introduction of new clinical practice guidelines, improvements in the provision and use of pharmaceuticals, quality improvements in the priority programmes for mother and child health, cardiovascular diseases, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, strengthening of public health and improvements in medical education.
A Community Action for Health programme was introduced through new village health committees, enhancing health promotion and allowing individuals and communities to take more responsibility for their own health. Health financing reform consisted of the introduction of a purchaser provider split and the establishment of a single payer for health services under the state-guaranteed benefit package (SGBP). Responsibility for purchasing health services has been consolidated under the Mandatory Health Insurance Fund (MHIF), which pools general revenue and health insurance funding. Funds have been pooled at national level since 2006, replacing the previous pooling at oblast level. The transition from oblast-based pooling of funds to pooling at the national level allowed the MHIF to distribute funds more equitably for the SGBP and the Additional Drug Package.
Although utilization of both primary care and hospital services declined during the 1990s and early 2000s, it is increasing again. There is increasing equality of access across regions, improved financial protection and a decline in informal payments, but more efforts will be required in these areas in the future.
The Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic is a central authority of the state administration which implements a policy in the sphere of the public health care in the Kyrgyz Republic. The main task of the Ministry is formation of the single policy in the spheres as follows:
Attaining of independence along with development of market relations initiated a process of reformation in all sectors of the national economy of the Kyrgyz Republic including branches of health care system.
Health care facilities faced difficult tasks such as health preservation and promotion especially among children, women, old people and others including low-income persons in difficult economic conditions. Along with it, strategies and fundamental principles in the health care had been developed.
In 2007-2010, a number of legal acts of pharmacological support have been accepted under the State Medical Policy. For example, the Kyrgyz Republic Government Regulation No. 75 as of October 10th, 2006 approved the List of the Life-saving Medication recommended by WHO and complied with evidentiary medicine strategy regulations.
In Kyrgyzstan, further concentration of state financing and scientific potential in priority areas of the health care sector is provided with competitive financing of fundamental research, it goes along with stimulation of scientific and technical enterprise, development of small promotional enterprises and pilot production.
