BISHKEK: Like many in Central Asia, Almagul Ibrayeva faces life-threatening medicine shortages in Kyrgyzstan. “Women are dying because of a lack of medicine,“ said Ibrayeva, a breast cancer survivor in her 50s. She relies on imports from Turkey or Moscow for her hormone treatment, exemestane. “There are many medicines simply unavailable here. The patient has to look themselves and buy them.”
Shortages, high prices, and substandard drugs plague the region’s 80 million people. Central Asia heavily depends on pharmaceutical imports, leaving patients vulnerable. In 2023, adulterated Indian cough syrup killed 69 Uzbek children. “Some people sell their homes, livestock, or go into debt just to survive,“ said Shairbu Saguynbayeva, a uterine cancer survivor.
Saguynbayeva founded “Together to Live,“ a Bishkek center supporting cancer patients. Women there sew traditional ornaments to fund treatments for 37 patients since 2019. While Kyrgyzstan has increased medicine supplies, Saguynbayeva calls them “meagre.” Barakhat Saguyndykova received free cancer medicine only three times between 2018 and 2025.
Dr. Ulanbek Turgunbaev from the National Oncology Center acknowledges the crisis. “Sourcing medicine is a serious problem,“ he said, urging early disease detection to cut costs. Kyrgyzstan lacks 5,000 healthcare workers, forcing prioritization of urgent cases. President Sadyr Japarov vowed to tackle medical corruption after the health minister was dismissed.
New medicine factories offer hope, but 6,000 drugs may vanish by 2026 due to Eurasian Economic Union re-registration rules. State-run Kyrgyz Pharmacy aims to centralize orders and reduce prices, yet delays persist. “A mother of three died because she didn’t get medicine in time,“ Saguynbayeva said. “It’s better to save a mother than build orphanages.” – AFP