The history of the “National Scientific Medical Center” establishment

The initiative of modern clinic establishment in the capital belongs to the President of the country Nursultan Nazarbayev. By the order of the head of the state, the construction of the Republican Clinical Hospital with 240 beds began in Astana. The building was designed by British construction company “Fitzpatrick Contractors” by the project of the Queen Hospital. The opening took place in August 2001. Since then, the clinic’s status changed twice: from the Republican Clinical Hospital – to the Republican State Enterprise (RSE) in 2003, then to the “National Scientific Medical Center” JSC in 2010.

Since 2005, “NSMC” JSC is the headquarters of the Euro-Asian Respiratory Society (EARS). Due to this activity, in 2007, Kazakhstan joined the Global Alliance against Respiratory Diseases (GARD) – a subdivision of the World Health Organization (WHO). In October 2007 the “Health Assembly” Foundation with the support of WHO and the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development of the Russian Federation awarded “NSMRC”JSC with the title of the International prize laureate nominated “For contribution to the healthcare development”.

In order to implement the strategy of cardiosurgical service development in Kazakhstan, in 2003, a cardiosurgery service was opened in the “National Scientific Medical Center”, where the first open heart surgery was performed in April, 2004. Less than a year later, on February 28, 2005, there was performed an intervention on coronary stent placement. The Pediatric Cardiosurgery Department and the second Cardiosurgery Department for adults were opened in 2008, the Interventional Cardiology Department – in 2010, and the Arrhythmology Department – in 2012.

Implementing the strategic goals on reduction of mortality from circulatory system diseases, since 2009 the center has coordinated all cardiology and cardiosurgery services in the country. Employees of “NSMC” JSC facilitated the establishment of cardiac centers in all regions of Kazakhstan and in two large cities — Astana and Almaty, performing the transfer of high technologies and training of specialists for new clinics. The specialists of our center have developed and introduced the standards for the management of acute coronary syndrome patients.

Since 2012, surgeries on organs and cells transplantation are performed at “NSMC” JSC. By the decision of the FDA our center was added to the database of safe clinics for conducting international researches. Realizing the importance of providing qualitative medical services, “NSMC” JSC strives to become a competitive institution on the world market and meet all international quality standards in its field, developing and continually improving the management system. In June 2010, “NSMC” JSC was certified for the “Recognized for excellence — 4 stars”, and in November 2012 – “Recognized for excellence — 5 stars” of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model.

In addition, “NSMC” JSC has implemented international standards for diagnostic laboratories: the EQAS (USA) and national accreditation standards for medical institutions. The center was one of the first who obtained the certificate with the result of medical services conformity at 98.7% according to the accreditation standards of the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Telemedicine Department was opened in 2010, what has expanded the partnership geography. The corporate social responsibility was introduced in 2011.

In 2010 the European Business Community and the European Union Chamber of Commerce and Industry recognized the “NSMRC” JSC as the “Best European Enterprise in Medicine” and presented an appropriate diploma. In 2012, “NSMC” JSC became the winner of the Asian Quality Award (ANQ, Hong Kong), in 2014 – the “Paryz” Prize for new technologies in medicine, the European Award for the Best Practices (Brussels) and the European Quality Award (Italy). Later in the same year the specialists of the center presented new researches in HIFU therapy application during treatment of internal organs parasitic diseases and were awarded with the European prize “For Quality Innovation”.

The center develops and implements the most current trends of healthcare and medical science of Kazakhstan. Transplantation of various stem cells types within highly-specialized medical care allows to solve difficult problems of internal diseases clinic and surgery. By the decision of the FDA (USA), “NSMC” JSC is added to the database of safe clinics for conducting international clinical researches.