Kidney failure costs Kazakhstan 250 billion tenge as patient numbers double in five years
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Chronic kidney disease in Kazakhstan has nearly doubled in five years, with state spending on dialysis, medicines, and transplants exceeding 250 billion tenge. A patient in Almaty describes living on hemodialysis three times a week after kidney failure caused by a chemical injury. The disease is spreading faster than the funding of the system meant to manage it.
Key Facts
- The number of registered chronic kidney disease patients in Kazakhstan nearly doubled over five years.
- State spending on hemodialysis, medicines, and transplants exceeded 250 billion tenge.
- Almaty resident Yekaterina Struchayeva has been on hemodialysis three times a week since 2019 after a chemical injury led to kidney failure.
- Chronic kidney disease is divided into five stages, with stage five potentially requiring dialysis or transplantation.
Patient Experience
Yekaterina Struchayeva, an Almaty resident, learned of her diagnosis seven years ago after a chemical solution injured her toe at a bread factory in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, clinics refused to admit her, delaying treatment for a month. Doctors attempted to save her toe, but complications led to vision loss and kidney failure, resulting in amputation of the toe. Her vision returned, but her kidneys never recovered, and she now lives with chronic kidney disease.
Treatment Burden
Struchayeva undergoes hemodialysis three times a week, each session lasting four to five hours connected to an artificial kidney machine. She follows a strict diet and monitors her fluid intake to within a liter. Hemodialysis cleans the blood by passing it through a filter that removes metabolic waste and excess fluid. Struchayeva says the procedures help her survive because her kidneys cannot eliminate toxins on their own.
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