It is for the sixth running year now that Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation has been actively participating in organisation of the Burabike annual charity sports and music festival and then spending the raised funds to purchase vitally important medical equipment and to give it to hospitals and clinics in regions of Kazakhstan. We talked to Foundation Director Marat Aitmagambetov to find out how and when charity recipients are chosen, how efficiency of assistance rendered is evaluated and what equipment they managed to supply to hospitals at the account of the record-setting 205 million tenge raised in 2018.Pictured: Director of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation, Marat Aitmagambetov
How is the list of Burabike charity recipients formed?
The list of charity recipients of the Burabike charity festival is formed every year before the event is held, so that during the festival the organisers already know what medical institutions they will give equipment to in the current year. Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation receives letters from potential charity recipients, listing equipment required, throughout the year and makes a decision in spring or early summer, being based on several criteria: focus of medical assistance, availability of children’s, delivery, gynecological and perinatal departments, size of population and distance from an oblast centre. The list of equipment required is determined by a request from the hospital administration, needs of the medical institution and amount of funds raised due to the festival. The Foundation officials visit potential beneficiaries to make certain of the hospital needs.
What hospitals have got equipment this year?
Burabike beneficiaries in 2018 were:
Merke Central District Hospital, Zhambyl Oblast;
Maternity Home in Zharkent Town, Almaty Oblast;
Rural Hospital in Agadyr Village, Karaganda Oblast;
Alakol Central District Hospital, Almaty Oblast;
Timiryazevo Central District Hospital, North Kazakhstan Oblast;
According to the Foundation Director, Marat Aitmagambetov, historically, starting from the very first Burabike, charity recipients were mainly children’s medical institutions at the oblast level. But in the course of time the management of the Foundation came to a conclusion that the government of Kazakhstan has initiated several programmes which promoted considerable improvements in facilities of the oblast level hospitals. This allowed the Foundation to go a level down and to focus on assistance to district and rural hospitals which were in much more need of modern vitally important equipment.
“Kazakhstan is a vast country. An average Kazakhstani oblast comprises an area of several European states. Quite often inhabitants of our villages and districts have to go hundreds kilometres to get quality medical assistance. This might be complicated, especially if we talk about newborns or babies under one year of age, – many of them can’t be brought to oblast centres fast enough. Last year we decided to deliver to these central district and rural hospitals, and founder Bulat Utemuratov and the Board of Trustees supported this decision”, says Marat Aitmagambetov.
What equipment did they receive?
As Burabike participants and organisers wished, the focus was always placed on delivery of vitally important children’s equipment: artificial lung ventilation units, padded platforms, humidicribs, bedside monitors and other intensive care equipment. It was decided to stay on the same track in future too – at the district and rural levels. For example, in 2018 two hospitals – in Merke and Agadyr villages – received mobile intensive care units on basis of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter-315 cars priced at 42 million tenge. This is more than an ambulance car: mobile intensive care units are equipped with modern high efficiency instrumentation, including defibrillator, artificial lung ventilation unit and many other medical appliances which allow to support the patient’s life for quite a long period of time. These mobile intensive care units will be used to go to remote areas to take a patient in a serious condition and to bring him to a rural or another hospital having a possibility to render assistance on the way in case of life threatening and to save the life.Pictured: Transfer of a mobile intensive care unit to the Merke District Hospital In addition to mobile intensive care units, Burabike-2018 beneficiaries also received equipment for intensive care and life support for newborns and parturient women. For example, the Merke Hospital got an open intensive care system for newborns, with Infa Warmer i 103 monitor made by Atom Medical Corporation (Japan), and a nasal breathing system for newborns; Timiryazevo Hospital – an artificial lung ventilation apparatus Bellavista 1000 Е (Switzerland) for premature newborns; Zharkent Maternity Home – an anesthetic breathing apparatus Genesis, of Hersill, S.L. make (Spain), and Agadyr Village Hospital – a fetal monitor Fetus BFM-900 (Korea) for determination of intrauterine fetus condition during pregnancy and delivery. This is not the entire list of equipment delivered at the account of funds raised at Burabike-2018. There were also high tech apparatuses for examination and diagnosis, surgery kits, syringe dosing devices, padded platforms and a lot more delivered. First reports from head doctors of these hospitals will be made after six months of equipment operation – this is a compulsory requirement of the Foundation for making decisions on beneficiaries. The Foundation management happily shares the stories of beneficiaries of previous years.Pictured: Transfer of medical equipment to the Zharkent Maternity Home by Bulat Utemuratov Foundation
“In 2016 we supplied two humidicribs to the Kzylorda Oblast Hospital which covers 7 districts”, tells Marat Aitmagambetov. “Humidicrib is a closed system of life support which is used mainly for the developmental care of premature newborns in serious conditions. Each of humidicribs cost about 30 million tenge. In the estimation of our charity recipients, these humidicribs allowed to reduce the newborn death rate in those seven districts two-fold”.
In 2013, when Burabike was organised for the first time, all funds raised – and that was 11.5 million tenge – were used to purchase equipment for the children’s intensive care department of the Kokshetau Oblast Perinatal Centre. In 2019 Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation continues getting comments and reports from the Centre. According to Yulia Ivaschenko, Head of the Children’s Intensive Care Department, an average of 238 babies are born in the Oblast Perinatal Centre annually, out of whom 75% are premature. They need therapy, ancillary support, non-invasive lung ventilation etc. Before the Centre received the equipment, only 10-12% of babies survived; the equipment made it possible for 67% of newborns with the extremely low weight (from 500 grams to 1 kg) to survive in 2017-2018. Thanks to the new equipment, from 2015 the Perinatal Centre can admit babies in serious conditions from all districts of the Oblast.
Last year an X-ray diagnostic system was transferred to the Petropavlovsk Children’s Oblast Hospital: ”This is the first such digital apparatus here in Petropavlovsk. We are especially thankful as this apparatus is installed in the children’s multi-profile hospital. This equipment allows for the fast and quality diagnostics of children, with less radiation exposure. It is safe for a child. We have dreamt of such an equipment for a long while. If with the old machine we waited for 30-40 minutes for the picture to develop, now it takes just seconds. We get quality pictures. And this apparatus also makes it possible to do a complete X-ray scanning, for example of the entire vertebral column. From January 2018 we have examined 3,303 children and carried out check studies for 6,600 children of 0-18 years of age. Of all our patients, 38% are from rural areas”, told Lazzat Iskakova, Head of the X-Ray Diagnostics Department.
A very kind-hearted story happened in the Akmola Oblast Children’s Hospital too. In 2016, the Charity Tour de Burabay (as the fourth Burabike was called) raised over 100 million tenge – 47.7 million tenge were used to re-equip and repair the gas supply system of the Akmola Oblast Children’s Hospital, and the rest of the money – to support a Central District Hospital in the Kzylorda Oblast. According to Head Doctor Yelena Ivanova, who worked in the Intensive Care Department at the moment of the equipment delivery, after gas supply was fixed in the hospital, all employees “breathed a sigh of relief”. The old supply system was so noisy that continuous presence in the department was unbearable for both doctors and patients – especially for newborns of 0-28 days old who needed complete rest. Now it became more comfortable to work and to get medical assistance, and installation of medical equipment allowed to continuously monitor patients in the real-time mode. Dosing devices which automatically supply the required medicines in prescribed quantities considerably improved the quality of medical assistance rendered to little patients. Marat Aitmagambetov noted that the Foundation staff strives to transfer equipment as publicly and transparently as possible: they invite local authorities and journalists, not only for the charity festival participants and philanthropists to see their contribution to the good history of Burabike but also to raise awareness among clinics and hospitals all over the country about the opportunity to get the needed modern medical equipment, and to attract attention of local administrations to the needs of medical institutions.
“It is quite often revealed that local authorities not always know what this hospital is in need of. We have examples when we delivered some medical equipment and following that funds were allocated out of the state budget for purchase of another type of equipment. The procedure of transfer itself serves as an impetus for local authorities, attracts attention to the medical institution, and is a message for other hospitals that support can also come through Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation in later years”, shares Aitmagambetov.
Registration for sports and music festival Burabike-2019 is already open on https://burabike.kz/ website.
Talking about what the main charity event of Kazakhstan will look like this year. In 2019 the event will for the first time take place under the BurabikeFest name (previously it was called Burabike and the Charity Tour de Burabay), the organising committee told. The Fest part was introduced due to the expansion of the programme and a considerable increase in numbers of those willing to take part: from 130 people in 2013 to 2,300 people in 2018. For six years Burabike has grown from a charity regional bike ride up to the national music and sports festival which has no equals in Kazakhstan. The format provides for both family recreation and youth drive in open air of the unique resort Borovoe.Pictured: Participants of Burabike-2018 at their start pointThe festival will become a two-day event. For six running years the event was held within one day. The bike ride took place immediately upon the registration. First riders to start were traditionally the leading inspirer of the festival, Kazakhstani businessman and philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov, and General Manager of the Astana Pro Team Alexander Vinokurov accompanied by other prominent businessmen, public figures and civil servants. They were followed by all bike ride participants who leisurely covered a distance of 25-30 km. Having made their finish, the participants received commemorative medals, enjoyed the picnic and the musical programme and then the festival was over. In 2019 the organising committee offers a more saturated two-day programme and ambitious changes in the format of holding sports runs and the charity auction. Now two runs are planned through the festival programme: a bicycle racing on day one and a bicycle ride on day two. The bicycle racing will be for trained and professional athletes. They will be offered two distances – 35 km and 65 km. The organisers will introduce the RFID system to track the results of participants and to make winners known. On day two anyone willing to do so can take part in the 11 km bicycle ride with no age and sportive limitations. Thus, the sports part of the event will give chances both to take part in the competition and to make a slow bicycle ride along a new bike route. The charity auction will also be held twice: on the first day at the gala dinner for the festival participants accommodated in the Rixos Borovoe hotel, and on the second day – during the daytime concert music programme in the open air. Doing so the organisers plan to involve more festival participants in charity, giving them the opportunity to participate in the auction and to adjoin its good-natured history.
“Formerly the initial value of lots which were placed on auction was rather high and not all those who wished could battle for the lots. Division into two auctions will allow to not only raise more money to help children’s medical institutions but also to involve more people into the charity auction participation. The new format will stimulate more participants to feel having a hand in a common goodwill cause, will help to develop the spirit of noble calling and engagement”, says Leya Khamitova, Marketing Director, Rixos Borovoe Hotel, organiser of the Burabike Fest.
Pictured: Argon-18 bicycle was sold for 25 million tenge at the Burabike-2018 auctionA distinct interest of the public is always attracted by lots placed on the Burabike auction. They, for example, always include rackets and uniforms with autographs of renown Kazakhstani and foreign tennis players, master classes and trips to world tournaments given by the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, bicycles with autographs of famous bicyclists given by the Astana Pro Team members and Burabike ambassador Alexander Vinokurov. For several running years there have been auction lots placed by popular boxers: signed gloves of Gennadiy Golovkin and Serik Sapiyev. Lots also include pieces of art, gadgets, certificates for luxury goods produced by various partner companies. And the most expensive lot for the whole history of the auction was paintings by children of the Shchuchinsk Orphanage bought by philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov for 30 million tenge in 2016. This lot was not beaten even by Pele’s gear. Olympic champion Alexander Vinokurov has been the Burabike ambassador and one of its most active participants for several years now. Members of the Astana Pro Team, where he is the general manager, take part in sports runs and place lots on the auction:
«Holding such events as Burabikeis very important both from the charity point of view and for the development of bicycling culture and popularisation of healthy lifestyle in Kazakhstan. We can annually see that this charity ride gathers more and more participants and our team joyfully supports this beautiful initiative. It is always a big pleasure for us to take part in it, to bring here our racers, to place lots on behalf of the “Astana” bicycle team. Sums of money raised here during the charity auction are quite substantial indeed, we can see the results of these contributions every year and, of course, this really inspires. Burabikehasalreadybecamean inherent part of our calendar, and I would like to express my big gratitude to the organisers for arranging such an important social event at the highest possible level”, commented Vinokurov on his participation.
Sponsor packages is one more novelty which, according to the organisers’ idea, is to increase the amount of funds raised for charity purposes. Sponsor packages will be offered in four categories from one million up to 10 million tenge and available to all big companies in Kazakhstan and the CIS. All funds raised during the Burabike Fest are spent to purchase the needed equipment for children’s medical institutions of Kazakhstan. The final amount of the charity aid is a sum of money received through the charity auction, entry fees of the festival participants and sales of corporate sponsor packages.Pictured: Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation delivers medical equipment worth 22 million tenge to the maternity home of Zharkent
«In 2018 the amount raised thanks to Burabike was 205 million tenge spent to buy two mobile intensive care units, artificial lung ventilation devices, newborn reanimation system and other vitally important equipment for the Merke, Timiryazevo and Alakol central district hospitals, the maternity home of Zharkent town, and the rural hospital of Agadyr village. We account for the funds raised and deliver the equipment in presence of Kazakhstani mass media so that everything would be as transparent as possible and the Burabike participants could see their contribution in the common goodwill cause”, noted Marat Aitmagambetov, Director of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation.
Almost 700 million tenge was raised for these six years, thereby perinatal centres, orphanages and children’s rehabilitation centres all over Kazakhstan could receive the required equipment. The granted equipment is actively used in their daily practice. Oleg Zaviyalov, Chief Doctor of the North Kazakhstan Oblast Children’s Hospital, told that for 5 months of 2018 they held 1,992 X-ray examinations using the fixed digital radiographic system Samsung XGEO GU60A given to the hospital by the Foundation and this allowed to increase the accuracy of diagnosing. The Kzylorda Oblast Perinatal Centre received two humidicribs for premature newborns in 2014. On annual average, they perform 412 carriages between departments of the maternity home and to other medical institutions when complicated surgeries are required. One humidicrib is permanently located in the intensive care unit in case of urgent rides and flights to remote areas, and the second humidicrib is in the delivery department, in the stabilization room. This year the BurabikeFestorganizing committee expects more participants than in the last one. To remind, in 2018 the registration had to be closed early due to reaching the 2,500 people limit of participants. The organisers plan to increase the numbers of participants at the account of geographical expansion and involvement of participants from neighbouring Russia, Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan who, in addition to racing, can also enjoy the natural beauty of Kazakhstan and get to know this tourist destination better. All conditions are being created for this. For example, now a tent camp will be set up for the Burabike Fest at the area adjacent to Rixos Borovoe for those who want to spend the two festival days in a maximum vicinity of nature. Tent camp residents will also be able to enjoy a short individual evening programme.
