Mirziyoyev met with medical workers: a new Ibn Sino award and honors for doctors

A meeting ahead of the holiday and a new award

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting with healthcare and pharmaceutical workers ahead of their professional holiday, as reported by his press secretary Sherzod Asadov. The head of state proposed establishing a special state award for medical workers who are role models in protecting human health and in introducing advanced scientific developments and treatment methods; it will be named after Abu Ali ibn Sino (Avicenna). For now this is a proposal, not an adopted decision — no publications report the signing of a relevant decree.

A decade's results and digitalization plans

According to the president, over ten years the country has opened polyclinics and hospitals with a capacity to serve 10 million people, created 58,000 treatment beds, and the volume of medical services has tripled. Uzbek clinics have mastered more than 100 types of services, including complex brain surgeries and organ transplantation. Healthcare digitalization is underway, covering private clinics and pharmacies as well. In the near future, we will enrich this [digital] system with artificial intelligence capabilities to make it a true assistant for doctors and nurses, Mirziyoyev noted.

Pharmaceuticals

The goal is to cover 70% of demand for pharmaceutical products through local production. In recent years, 330 new production facilities worth a total of $1 billion have been launched, and work on projects worth another $1.2 billion is underway in the Tashkent Biopharm City cluster and four pharmaceutical free economic zones.

Awards

The president presented medals and orders to a group of medical workers. The Order of Mekhnat Shukhrati was awarded to Nurillo Mamasodikov, founder of the private Central Asian Medical University in Fergana. The first-degree Order of Soghlom Avlod Uchun was awarded to Zholdas Kulzhanov, head of the orthopedics department at a university hospital in St. Louis, USA; Bakhromkhan Alyavi, director of the Republican Specialized Center of Therapy and Medical Rehabilitation; Ulugbek Sobirov, director of the Republican Specialized Center of Dermatovenerology and Cosmetology; and Zarifjon Ashurov, director of the Republican Center for Mental Health and head of the Psychiatrists' Association of Uzbekistan. The Order of Dustlik went to Ayub Isahan Ayubi, CEO of the American organization Project CURE, and Akhror Yakubov, a neurosurgeon at the private Tashkent clinic Jacksoft, received the second-degree Order of Salomatlik.

Context

The Spot.uz article comes against the backdrop of other industry news: earlier the outlet reported that a number of medical services are planned to be outsourced to businesses. Thus, the expansion of the private sector's role, which the president spoke about at the meeting, is also backed by concrete plans to transfer services to business.