ASTANA – Rehabilitation centres for children with cerebral palsy are being developed across Kazakhstan’s regions to make treatment more accessible.
More than 19,000 children have been diagnosed with cerebral palsy in Kazakhstan. Twenty percent are undergoing rehabilitation, and the rest await in line for treatment.
There are 35 rehabilitation centres for children with cerebral palsy in the country. Government support provides for rehabilitation at least once a year at the National Centre for Children’s Rehabilitation, the Aksai national children’s clinical hospital and the Balbulak national children’s rehabilitation centre.
In 2014, the Kasiyetty Zhol public charity foundation opened a rehabilitation centre at Astana City Children’s Hospital No. 2. Two thousand nine hundred and thirteen children from all regions have since received assistance. In 2018 alone, 1,226 children were rehabilitated at the centre.
With the support of Samruk Kazyna Trust Social Projects Development Fund, Kasiyetty Zhol opened a similar rehabilitation centre in Shymkent in 2017. Every month, 50 children aged 2-15 years old with cerebral palsy, congenital malformations and Down syndrome undergo rehabilitation.
The same year, the Early Intervention Centre at Astana’s Perinatal Centre No. 1 was established for children under 2 years old, where 56 patients undergo treatment for ten days every month.
Among the 2,000 children who underwent rehabilitation with the support of Kassiyety Zhol is six-year-old Nuriya Koyshiyeva, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at birth.
“We arrived at the Kasiyetty Zhol centre in 2014,” said Nuriya’s mother Venera Koyshiyeva. “We began treatment and, within only a few sessions, saw improvements. It is impossible to convey my emotions with words. Nuriya started to lift her head, straighten her back and turn from one side to the other. These were small steps but, for us, they were great achievements.”
