A meeting of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held chaired by Dariga Nazarbayeva.
In her speech, D. Nazarbayeva paid special attention to the development of medicine and emphasized that this area would receive a large-scale state support as decided by the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
“The President instructed to adopt a new Code of People’s Health and the Healthcare System with practical proposals on how to improve the public healthcare system. I believe the senators should take into account all the areas of concern exposed in the healthcare system under the state of emergency when working on a draft new Code of People’s Health and Healthcare System,” she said.
Speaking about the draft list of the country’s backbone enterprises presented by the media, the Senate Chairperson highlighted the absence of personal protective equipment producers on the list.
“We have seen a draft list of the country’s backbone enterprises. The deputies have already expressed their attitude to the principles of its formation. But the question arises: Is there at least one company on this list that produces medical face masks or disinfectants? And where is the enterprise on the list to produce domestic test systems, immunobiological preparations, be ready to produce a coronavirus vaccine on behalf of the President? Are we really going to continue exporting these essential goods for foreign currency in the face of falling revenues from oil and other minerals?” D. Nazarbayeva noted.
According to the Head of the Senate, today we do need a serious well-balanced conversation about the priorities of the state policies, an open and public discussion of the problems and plans of the executive branch more than ever.
“The state of emergency and the ongoing pandemic cannot justify making strategic decisions without public discussion,” Dariga Nazarbayeva said.
In addition, in her speech, the Senate Chairperson dwelt in detail upon a number of public concerns, which might fall outside the scope of government bodies for various reasons, while being significant.
“Retirement homes, nursing homes, orphanages. The deputies and I personally constantly receive appeals from residents and representatives of these medical and social institutions concerning the shortage of protective equipment and sanitary hygiene facilities. Although, as international and domestic experience shows, they are the most vulnerable part of society today. It seems that these people have just been forgotten about, and the retirement homes, orphanages and specialized nursing homes are supplied residually. This is a disturbing trend. It should be solved,” D. Nazarbayeva said.
Separately, the problem of crimes related to domestic and family violence was discussed due to a sharp increase in number under the conditions of self-isolation as reported by women’s human rights organizations.
“Unfortunately, this results directly from the lockdown measures, when an abused victim – generally a woman or a child – can neither leave home nor run away or seek help. I believe that local authorities and law enforcement agencies should pay special attention to the identification of such crimes and the general strengthening of measures to support women. I’m sure my colleagues will treat this problem with understanding,” D. Nazarbayeva said.
Concluding her speech, the Head of the Senate emphasized that the Parliament should analyze the actions of authorities in detail at all levels in the state of emergency and draw systemic conclusions.
“This serves to the best interests of all and every person. All this is very accurately stated in the Statement of the President K. Tokayev. The country is to ‘perform a large-scale in-depth transformation of the economy and the public administration system’. Frankly speaking, this is an extraordinary in its complexity and scope task. It sets special demands on the quality of the joint work of the Government, Parliament, local authorities and civil society. We all have a lot of work to do,” Dariga Nazarbayeva said.
