Public hearings on the draft Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On the health of the people and the health care system" were held on the platform of the Atameken.

“The draft Code is already generating great interest among businessmen, especially with regard to the introduction of additional control and supervision, restrictions on the sale of tobacco products and the introduction of additional obligations for employers,” Alyona Romanova, deputy chairman of the Board of the Atameken NCE RK, said.

Business is interested in the implementation of auditing in a special order.

“When introducing additional control, the question arises whether we have enough specialists to conduct it. Currently, the activities of pharmaceutical facilities, especially pharmacies, are regulated by a sufficiently large number of regulatory acts,” Marina Durmanova, president of the Association for Support and Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry ALE, said.

Pharmacies with a permit for the manufacture of medicines have always been related to objects of high importance and inspected annually.

“Manufacturers who work in compliance with GMP standards independently exercise control over the products. For this, the enterprises have an authorized person. A business that has implemented a standard is independently responsible for the safety of its products. In this connection, an additional check will lead to a slowdown in the production and a rise in the cost of the product,” Ruslan Sultanov, president of the FarMedIndustry Association, said.

 The deputy of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ivan Klimenko spoke out about the inadmissibility of a special procedure for conducting inspections.

“We are introducing an international standard and immediately starting to additionally control its compliance. It is necessary to understand that the key issue of quality assessment is post-registration monitoring. I must note that two years ago there was a situation when there was not any yellow card. That is, there were millions of drug transactions, but there were no complaints. Today we need to establish order in the post-registration control, which will ensure the quality of pharmaceutical products on the market,” Ivan Klimenko said.

 “We plan to introduce a number of measures, including labeling and tracing of medicines, which will facilitate the circulation of high-quality medicines on the market. Additional control is being developed to identify mostly unscrupulous entities. At the same time, those who work according to international standards of production, distribution and retail sales will be exempt from additional audits,” Nurlybek Asylbekov, deputy chairman of the Committee of Pharmacy of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, said, stressing that the ministry is ready to meet with business and associations to work through all controversial issues.

In addition, the business community raised the issue of transferring methods for the early detection of HIV infection.

“We want the patient to have an alternative - to come to a private clinic and to be tested for HIV/AIDS. If the result is not clear, the blood will be sent to the AIDS center. This will increase the detectability of infected and does not contradict the work of the AIDS center,”representative of the Kazakhstan Association of Medical Laboratories Akmaral Shayakhmetova said.

The representative of the Ministry of Health stressed that the issue is controversial and expressed willingness to meet with the business again to consider the possibility of conducting an analysis in private clinics.

The issue of introduction a ban on smoking is being raised for the second time on the Atameken platform. In particular, it is stipulated in the new edition of the Code to remove cigarettes at points of sale with an area of at least 10 square meters, as well as those located within a radius of 100 meters from educational institutions and prohibit the use products and devices in public places, on the balconies of their own apartment.

According to the head of the special monitoring group at the Agency for Civil Service and Anti-Corruption of RK Aigul Solovyova, the experts should conduct extensive calculations and analysis of the regulatory impact of all the innovations.

According to the business community, such amendments will lead to the closure of retail outlets and small stores.

“It is forbidden to sell tobacco within a radius of 100 meters from educational institutions and about 80 per cent of retail outlets are located in this radius. We are not against the restriction of smoking in public places. However, these restrictions may affect the volume of legal trade and the growth of counterfeit products. Perhaps, we should consider an option with specially designated places, smoking booths, ” the representative of the association of manufacturers of tobacco products said.

The entrepreneurs focused on the lack of a clear concept of the definition "educational institution". These include not only schools, but also refresher courses, as well as various forms of additional education.

“We agree that we need to equate devices with tobacco products. So that hookahs and smoking pipes should be allowed in specially designated places,” Maral Rakhimzhanova, head of the department of the Committee for Public Health, said.

It should be noted that the ban on the sale of alcohol at a distance of less than 100 meters from the educational services, was canceled because it did not show its effectiveness.

Summarizing, Alyona Romanova thanked the representatives of the Ministry for their participation.

“Today you have heard concerns and expectations of the entrepreneurs. It is essential to take them into account when further developing the Code,” Alyona Romanova said.