Kyrgyzstan faces deadly medicine shortages amid healthcare crisis
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
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Kyrgyzstan faces deadly medicine shortages amid healthcare crisis
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
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- Representational photo. NEW DELHI: A two-year-old boy in India's eastern state of Bihar killed a cobra by biting it after the venomous snake had slithered too close to him. Govinda Kumar was playing at home in Bankatwa village when he spotted the nearly metre-long snake, tried to grab it, only to have the reptile coil around his hands and attack him, according to local media. The boy's grandmother was quoted as saying that Govinda's reaction was to bite the snake's head, killing it on the spot. The child then passed out and was rushed to hospital. Grandmother Mateshwari Devi told local media: 'I was moving firewood near the house and the cobra came out... We rushed towards the boy and saw he had taken the cobra's head into his mouth. We then separated the cobra from his mouth and hands. 'The cobra died on the spot, while the child fell unconscious.' The Hindustan Times reported that the child had bitten so hard into the snake that it was ripped in two. According to India Today, village locals had said the boy was possibly agitated by the snake coming too close to him. Govinda was transferred to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Bettiah for specialist care, where doctors said they treated up to six snake bites monthly but had never seen such a 'highly unusual case'. The child was believed to have lost consciousness from ingesting the snake's venom when he bit it. The Telegraph quoted Dr Saurab Kumar, associate professor in the GMCH Bettiah's paediatrics department, as saying that Govinda seemingly survived as the venom had not entered his bloodstream from the snake's bite – as is usually the case. The child had instead ingested the poison by eating 'part of the cobra'. 'I received the child active and alert but his mouth and face was swollen because of the reaction to the venom in the oral cavity. 'We were surprised and cross-checked with his parents multiple times to ensure the child was not bitten by the cobra to rule out that venom had not gone into his bloodstream. They told us he bit the cobra and the snake died on the spot.' Govinda was discharged on Saturday, a day after the harrowing incident that made headlines across India. The Times of India drew parallels with the Hindu legend of Lord Krishna – also known as Govinda – who vanquished the venomous serpent Kaliya Naag in the Yamuna river. India is home to multiple species of cobra, with the Indian cobra among the 'big four' that account for the most snake bites in the country. Cobra venom contains toxins that target the nervous system and can damage body tissues and blood cells, with its severity varying across species. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) figures from 2023, an estimated 5.4 million people worldwide are bitten by snakes each year, with up to 137,880 deaths from snake bites, while amputations or permanent disabilities could be up to three times as many. India alone accounts for half of the snake-bite-related deaths, according to a report by website News Decoder earlier this year. Contacts between humans and snakes are expected to become more pronounced or frequent in some regions along with an increase in the risk of snakebite cases due to climate change, according to a report released last year by the WHO. - South China Morning Post
