Kazakhstan urges Turkic states to pool medicine purchases
Kazakh Healthcare Minister Akmaral Alnazarova announced the initiative at the Sixth Meeting of Health Ministers of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The minister said developing a mechanism for intergovernmental procurement of medicines and medical devices is one promising area of cooperation among OTS member states.
According to her, this will improve access to medicines, expand cooperation with international manufacturers, and enhance drug safety.
The mechanism involves pooling the needs of several states and coordinating procurement terms. This would allow countries to negotiate jointly with manufacturers and improve the efficiency of the procurement procedures.
To implement the initiative, Kazakhstan proposes using the experience and infrastructure of its single distributor — SK-Pharmacy LLP, which has carried out centralized procurement of medicines and medical devices since 2009.
"In the first half of 2026, 2.75 million patients were provided with free medicines. Medical organizations received products worth 258 billion tenge ($573.3 million). Savings from procurement procedures amounted to 68 billion tenge ($151.1 million)," the minister said.
The Kazakh minister said preliminary calculations based on Kyrgyzstan's example show that even with an initial list of 17 drugs, the potential economic benefit for the Kyrgyz Republic would be about $628,000, equivalent to cutting costs by roughly 55%.
In addition, to boost cooperation within the OTS, Akmaral Alnazarova proposed an accelerated drug registration procedure for member states that have already reached the third level of maturity under the WHO benchmarking system.
"In 2026, Kazakhstan became the first CIS country to receive a third-level maturity rating from the WHO under its Global Benchmarking Tool for medicines regulation. Given that Türkiye also holds third-level WHO maturity, we propose considering a bilateral mechanism for accelerated drug registration between our countries," she said.
The minister added that Kazakhstan is ready for close cooperation with other OTS countries and to exchange best practices in reaching the third level of maturity for national regulatory systems.
Earlier, it was reported that Qurultay-TurkPA cooperation priorities were discussed in Astana.