The National Research Center for Infectious Diseases (NRCID) was officially opened in Almaty on January 16. It is a key facility established on the instruction of the Head of State to strengthen the country’s biological security system.
The establishment of the Center became a systemic response to the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and is aimed at strengthening healthcare preparedness, developing scientific capacity, digital solutions, and training specialized personnel. The new Center is designed for 350 beds and will make it possible to provide medical and diagnostic care to around 2,500 tuberculosis patients annually from all regions of the country.
At the opening ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan Aida Balayeva stated: “The Center was built on the instruction of the President to strengthen the nation’s health and ensure the country’s biological security. Today, scientific research, advanced technologies, and the training of future specialists are closely interconnected here and combined into a single system. I am confident that the National Research Center for Infectious Diseases will become not just a medical institution, but a flagship of modern Kazakhstani medicine.”
The Deputy Prime Minister also noted that over the past two years, 695 new healthcare facilities have been built across the country.
The Center was built within a compressed timeframe and brings together clinical care, science, digital technologies, and education on a single platform. The Center is designed to provide medical care to patients, including children and pregnant women. In emergency situations, the Center’s capacity can be rapidly expanded to 500 beds.
The Center is a fully autonomous institution that ensures a complete cycle — from diagnostics and treatment to complex laboratory studies of infectious and parasitic diseases, including drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis. The Center will become a core element of the national system for responding to infectious threats, as well as a base for scientific development and professional training of infectious disease specialists.
