Year: 2019

Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation has financed construction of 100 houses for multi-child low-income families as part of the “Balameken” project.

In 2019 the Kazakhstani society faced an urgent issue of assistance to multi-child families living in disadvantaged conditions. In response, the government developed a large-scale programme of support measures: easy-term loans, mortgage programmes, housing certificates and allowances in various regions of Kazakhstan.

“Balameken”: houses for residents of Kyzylorda

In March Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation announced the “Balameken” project which resulted in the construction, in cooperation with the Kyzylorda Oblast Administration, of houses for 100 Kzylorda low-income families. The project gained a special attention of the government of Kazakhstan as an example of an efficient format of interaction between business and representatives of the regional administration.

Houses were built in a new microdistrict “Baiterek”, and the general contributions of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation to the project comprised over 1 million US dollars.

“The project was implemented within the record terms, for a month and a half, and we are happy that summer vacations of 100 Kzylorda families start from house-warming”, – said in his speech Almaz Sharman, Chair of the Board of Trustees of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation, on the day when house keys were given to new owners on 31 May, right on the eve of the International Child Protection Day.

Beneficiaries of the project were selected by the special commission formed by the Oblast Administration. These were families living in the ill-suited conditions – renting temporal huts, garages and barns, forced to squeeze together into small, poorly heated and uncomfortable premises.

“Thanks to the “Balameken” project, we now have our own house. I have two children who are second-degree disabled. Earlier, we had no facilities to take care of them, now I hope our difficulties are behind. We have waited long years for this day to come”, – told mother of nine Nurgul Zhanabayeva. The woman has been on the housing waiting list for six years.

Each of the fifty duplexes is designed for two families, each family has its own entrance and six acres of land. The houses were commissioned in fine finish, with bathroom fixtures, a gas boiler and a stove. In addition, gas, water and electricity supplies were connected.  Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation and the Oblast Administration made sure that the little newcomers had everything for a comfortable, and most importantly, safe life.

The Foundation allocated 2 million dollars for construction of houses and gave out monetary aid to 2,000 inhabitants of Arys.

Without exaggeration, the major national misfortune of summer 2019 in Kazakhstan was explosions at the ammunition depot in the territory of a military base near Arys in the Turkestan Oblast. The explosion rang out on 24 June, approximately at 09.20. The town population, about 40 thousand people, was evacuated over the next few hours. As a result, two people died, more than a hundred people were taken to hospital, and hundreds of families were left without a roof over their heads. The private charity foundation of businessman and philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov launched two projects at once to efficiently render aid to victims and to run the post-accident cleanup: first, the Foundation allocated 2 million dollars within the “Balameken” project for construction of houses for 100 families whose houses suffered from the explosions the most, and second, gave 60 million tenge as targeted financial assistance to 2,000 victims via ForteBank cards within the “Aid Card” project involving the Red Crescent Society of Kazakhstan.

Within the framework of the first area of ​​assistance, the Foundation will provide for and supervise the construction of 50 duplexes designed for two families each. Commissioning of ready-to-move-in houses, equipped with all necessary household appliances, kitchen equipment and bathroom fixtures, is scheduled for mid-September this year, the Foundation representatives report. Each house will have a plot of 10 acres, which will allow newcomers to set up a vegetable garden or an orchard. All communications and infrastructure necessary for a comfortable living is being laid out simultaneously with the construction of houses. The house construction project is a continuation of Bulat Utemuratov’s initiative “Balameken” which was first launched this summer in the Kyzylorda Oblast. Then, houses with all modern conveniences were given to 100 low-income multi-child families.

The second area of assistance rendered to Kazakhstanis affected by explosions in Arys was distribution of targeted aid within the framework of the “Aid Card” project. Bulat Utemuratov Foundation allocated 60 million tenge, distribution of which was assisted by employees and volunteers of the Red Crescent Society. “Aid Card” is a modern, technological and efficient format of provision of the first humanitarian aid which allows to render the speediest and targeted assistance to the most vulnerable strata of population – multi-child families, pensioners, single mothers and disabled who are brought out to light by the Red Crescent Society volunteers. The needy are given aid in the amount of 30,000 tenge per each family member by wire transfer to the ForteBank “Aid Card”.

The “Aid Card” project was launched in spring 2018, at the height of the season of floods which are considered to be the most common natural risk in Kazakhstan. Then assistance under such a scheme was rendered to 863 families in the East Kazakhstan Oblast. The amount of assistance was 81,690,000 tenge. In 2019, monetary aid within the project was dispersed to those affected by spring floods in Karaganda, Akmola, North Kazakhstan and Almaty Oblasts for the total amount of over 56 million tenge.

Floods are the most frequent natural disaster in Kazakhstan. Usually they happen in spring and affect East Kazakhstan, South Kazakhstan, Karaganda, Kostanay and Akmola Oblasts. Aid to the affected population is traditionally provided by local administrations, local departments for emergency situations and the Red Crescent Society of Kazakhstan. In 2018 Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation became an active participant of disaster assistance too.

“In 2017 we managed to get personally acquainted with Bulat Utemuratov. We offered cooperation in various sectors, including in rendering aid to people in emergency situations”, says Aslan Tussupzhanov, Head of Communications, Red Crescent of Kazakhstan. “Jointly we came up with an effective format of dispersing targeted monetary aid to people affected by natural disasters, and Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation and ForteBank also joined it in: in the event of emergency situations, Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation allocates funds, our volunteers find among the affected people those from the socially vulnerable strata of population: multi-child families, single pensioners, single mothers, disabled and families with disabled get assistance in the amount of 30,000 tenge per each member of a family by bank transfer to the ForteBank “Aid Card” and can spend this money for what they really need.”

According to the Head of Communications of the Red Crescent of Kazakhstan, collection of humanitarian aid for victims of natural disasters is often carried out spontaneously and because of this aid sometimes turns out to be not needed and untimely. For example, people in one part of the country might have collected warm clothes and hygiene kits to support victims of a natural disaster, while actually the affected population might urgently need food products or something else. It happened in 2015, when serious floods overtook the Karaganda Oblast.

“Here, in Almaty, humanitarian aid collection centres were organised, where we were involved too. Sorting clothes, we noticed many good-for-nothing things. As a result, much of what was given to us had to be thrown out. Besides, sorting, logistics and distribution of such aid requires a lot of resources. Later we talked a lot about timeliness of aid and its relevance. Monetary aid is always more convenient both for people who want to donate and for people who are in trouble, – we will never be able to find out 100% what they really need”, – says Tussupzhanov.

Money comes to the card, and it cannot be converted into cash but can only be spent in shops as a non-cash payment through POS-terminals. Validity of such “Aid Card” is 3 months. It is important to note that the card cannot be used for purchase of alcohol and tobacco products. In ForteBank, they note that the main expenses of the “Aid Card” recipients were made in grocery stores, pharmacies and construction supermarkets. The project was launched in spring 2018. Then, aid was received by 863 families (2,723 people) in the East Kazakhstan Oblast for the total amount of 81,690,000 tenge. In 2019 floods started in mid-April and lasted till mid-May. By the date people were rendered assistance for the total amount of around 36 million tenge. It was received by 1,000 people from Aksu-Ayuly Village (Karaganda Oblast), the city of Kokshetau and Staryi Koluton Village (Akmola Oblast) and the city of Petropavlovsk hit by floods this year. This is a good example of joint work of philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov acting through the foundation, the corporate sector acting through ForteBank, which covers the technical part and monitors the transparency of transactions, and a public organisation represented by Red Crescent who works directly with the public, providing the required information and reporting on the work done.

A little bit over a year ago the position of the Narxoz University Rector was taken by Andrew Wachtel – a man with an unordinary biography and a new vision of the education of future. He was invited to work in Kazakhstan by Kazakhstani businessman and philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov who, for many years now, has been actively developing his alma-mater and achieved a considerable progress here – corruption was eliminated, a large-scale scholarship Narxoz Challenge was introduced, the University infrastructure was renewed substantially. By today, Bulat Utemuratov has invested in development of Narxoz about 100 mln dollars.

“There are resources here, one can create something really marvelous. But this is a huge effort. It is necessary to raise the attractiveness of the University among students, persuade parents that their children will get competitive education here”, commented Andrew Wachtel on his decision to become the Narxoz University Rector.

The new Rector was assigned the task of carrying out a full transformation of the Narxoz University: modernize the educational programme, change approaches to tuition, create a favourable ecosystem in order to start teaching specialists of the future capable of critical thinking and adapting to the dynamically changing world. To achieve these, it will be necessary to freshen up the faculty staff, to introduce new education programmes and to build a new infrastructure. Andrew is a graduate of the famous Harvard University and also of the University of California in Berkley where he has got his PhD in 1987. After that he worked in the University of California in Los Angeles, in Stanford and in the Northwestern University in Illinois. In 2010 he started his work in Central Asia becoming the President of the American University in Central Asia.

The Narxoz building has become obsolete both morally and physically

It is planned to dramatically change the layout of the University, a huge 400-meter rectangle erected in the best traditions of the Soviet architecture. According to the design, the central part of the building will be demolished and a new, more contemporary, structure of the entrance space will appear on that place. Renovation of the building will be performed within the nearest 2.5 years. 

Reconfiguration of the space will help students feel freer within the walls of the University, will enable them to love this place and will inspire to spend more time in informal communication with professors and other students, to undertake research and entrepreneurship projects.

The University must train specialists who are able to adapt to the changing environment

The labour market in the modern world changes much faster than the educational institutions can adjust to it. Ten years ago no one knew that one of the most highly sought jobs would be the mobile application developer, because there were no applications as such. Same as now: we do not know what professions will be in demand in 2029 году – probably, these professions or supposed artifacts thereof have not come into existence yet.

Instead of a profession – fundamental knowledge

A higher education institution should, in the first instance, provide education which would allow a student to independently build up his or her profession in future, and to change the direction if the need be, to move with the times. Besides, there is too much information now, but no need to remember it anymore – one needs to be able to use it. And universities have no monopoly for knowledge anymore. That is what students will be taught in Narxoz after modification of educational programmes: to think critically, ask right questions, see phenomena as a big picture, identify the main and the secondary, find original sources.

What exactly will change?

1. Importance and prestige of the basic course will be boosted Every Kazakhstani university has a general education programme studied by students in their first year before moving on to the majors. Students of many universities consider this part of their education to be a chore needed just to check the box. Narxoz fundamentally disagrees with this for a range of reasons: these subjects not only give students a necessary basis that makes them comprehensively educated people but also allows to master the proper process of learning, the University believes. 2. The basic course will be formed anew To make the general education programme beneficial at its maximum, and the Narxoz graduates as competitive as possible not only in the Kazakhstani labour market but also internationally, the basic course will be formed anew. From next year it will include a compulsory course of programming for all specialities because the knowledge of Word and Excel is not sufficient for the digitalised world. The curricula of all Narxoz students will soon also include “Macroeconomics Theory”, “Ethics” and “Entrepreneurship”. 3. The format of studies will change In the classical or Soviet perception of higher education a professor is expected to share information in the lecturing format, and a student – to thoroughly take notes, memorise and narrate at exams. This model has lost its effectiveness in the modern world. All this information can be found on the Internet, often available publicly. What is really important? To consider concepts from different perspectives, apply in real life, structure and prioritize. That is why Narxoz students will come to classes having already read educational material, and in the audience they will dispute with other students of different backgrounds and with professors. And the tutor’s role will be to teach students to ask the right questions, put information in the context and find how to use it. 4. The curriculum will become trilingual Knowledge of the English language gives the graduates unconditional advantages in the global market of labour and further higher education. But teaching in English only would be flat-out wrong, they believe at Narxoz, if only because the majority of graduates stay to work in the country and must know all main concepts in local languages. That is why after re-formation of the education programme teaching of 70% of the curriculum will be done in English, and the rest 30% – in Kazakh or Russian. Thus, it will be possible to train trilingual specialists.

The ForteBank Kulanshi ArtSpace project was launched in 2016. Then, at the initiative of the ForteBank major shareholder, businessman and philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov, they managed to return to the homeland 24 paintings by well-known Kazakhstani artists. Masterpieces by Kasteyev, Mullashev, Stepanov, Aitbayev, Tynsykbayev and several other renown artists, bought back from abroad, formed the foundation of the new art space’s collection and became accessible for viewing to all Kazakhstanis and visitors of the capital absolutely free of charge. The shareholder entrusted the curatorship of the ForteBank’s modern gallery with the Kulanshi Modern Fine Arts Centre headed by well-known Kazakhstani artist Leila Makhat.  The Bank’s partnership with the brightest art project of the capital was commented by Bulat Utemuratov in this way: “When love and skills come together, you can expect a masterpiece.” 

And Leila Makhat speaks about her creative work in Nur-Sultan in the following words: “Having returned to Astana in 2017, I understood that there was no such a site here which would satisfy me as an artist and an organiser of exhibitions. The pieces of art brought by me from other countries and produced by myself did not fit into the frameworks of the museums and galleries which then existed. When I studied at the Berlin Municipality Museum Academy, we had practical lessons in various museums and galleries. In Astana I started doing what I have learnt by then and how I saw it myself. You cannot just come and put paintings up, every project must have its concept.” The Kulanshi team still follows these principles when they implement projects of the Modern Fine Arts Centre and ForteBank Kulanshi ArtSpace.

Located in the headquarters of ForteBank in the city of Nur-Sultan at 8/1 Dostyk, the ForteBank Kulanshi ArtSpace gallery has been giving joy of permanent and temporary displays to inhabitants and guests of the capital for three years now. By present, it has already unveiled for city dwellers 432 pieces of art by various artists and hosted 415,000 visitors. Among the gallery’s permanent display of works in the printed graphics halls one can see originals of lithographs of such globally known geniuses as Picasso, Chagall and even Dali. And temporary displays are renewed every 2-3 months: ForteBank Kulanshi ArtSpace exhibits both talented Kazakhstani artists and foreign ones. Decision on whose pieces of work will be exhibited in the gallery is made by the Kulanshi international curatorial board. This is a public association of art experts, artists, designers, curators, archeologists and historians from Kazakhstan, Austria, Portugal, Poland, China and Belarus, who have an extensive experience and standing in the international art market. When a bid is received, the curatorial board looks in the first instance at the quality of a project. Artists, collections or creative groups do not obligatory have to be known in wide circles, as the essence of the gallery’s work is to maintain a high level of quality of the presented projects and to discover new names. According to the Kulanshi representatives, at the very beginning of the way Bulat Utemuratov has outlined such targets as: to develop the visual arts of Kazakhstan and to popularise the intelligent consumption of art products in the society.

“We have a lot of the arts, but there is no culture of art products consumption. Sometimes people do not understand that the arts are created for them to see, to consume and to use. Ask any person in your office: “How many paintings do you have at home?” Original paintings, not reproductions or posters. It will turn out that there is one or two, or neither at all. We have nomadic mentality, but we have been living the settled life for a long while now and already must accumulate not only material things which we can demise, but also moral and spiritual ones. For example, to have an original of a piece of work by a modern artist means that your grandson will own a painting by the artist who was popular and the value of this painting will increase a lot”, says Leila Makhat.

The artist herself displayed her works in the gallery in 2017 within the framework of her personal exhibition “Osyndamyn”. The same year personal exhibitions of worldwide renowned French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec “Paris, Paris…”, Japanese installation artist Yasuaki Onishi “Vertical Emptiness” and famous Italian Ron di Scenza “Dancing in the Dark” took place. And in 2018 the ForteBank Kulanshi ArtSpace gallery showed to Astana people several multi-projects: “Classicism, Realism, Romanticism … Art of Western Europe. XIX — XX centuries”, “Seven Veils of Eurasia”, a joint exhibition of French artist Denis Marcon and young artists of Kazakhstan titled L’ART DE DIALOGUE, as well as an exhibition of works by Kazakh artists from the rich personal collection of Nurlan Smagulov’s family. The Bank itself believes that the concept of having the gallery in its head office supremely well describes the main principles of one of the largest financial institutions of the country. The project combines support of talented youth, interest in development of the country’s educational system and active participation in social processes. The ForteBank Kulanshi ArtSpace gallery is much more than sponsorship, it is the targeted long-term collaboration for development of the Kazakhstani society. That is exactly why the Bank plans to continue investing in development and preservation of the cultural heritage of the country.

Every year the 2^nd of April is marked internationally as the World Autism Awareness Day – the tradition originated in 2007 at the initiative of the State of Qatar and was established by the UN General Assembly. Kazakhstan started marking this day five years ago at the initiative of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation. The initiative is justified by the wide spread of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) – they are diagnosed for one out of 59 children in the world, according to the statistics of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and by the low awareness of this issue. Many people not only know nothing about the peculiarities of behavior and communication with ASD patients, but also do not assume the critical importance of early diagnosis and the big potential of correction programmes.

“When we were just starting the work in this field, every 159^th child in the world was born with autism”, said Director of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation Marat Aitmagambetov in his interview to the “Liter” Newspaper. “Last year every 59^th child came into being with this pathology, and as for the beginning of this year – even every 49^th. As international experts assess, there are already over 60,000 children born this year suffering from autism. In Kazakhstan – over 3,500.”

It is for four years now, that the problems of the children with ASD in Kazakhstan have been most actively addressed by Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation. Through its anchor programme “Autism. One world for all”, the Foundation set up a network of autism centres in six cities of Kazakhstan (Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Kzylorda, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Aktobe and Uralsk). These centres use the system of early diagnosis and timely support rendered to the children with ASD and their families, as well as their social adaptation through introduction of advanced western techniques developed by the University of California and the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta. Founder Bulat Utemuratov has already allocated for the project over 12.5 million dollars and plans to continue investing, as the centres provide support to the children with ASD and their families free of charge – such assistance has already been rendered to over 5,000 children.

Autism is not a life sentence

Every year Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation holds many proactive actions in anticipation of the World Autism Awareness Day, to draw attention of the target audience to the issue and to raise awareness of the wider public through media and social networks. In 2019 a video was filmed where talented guys undertaking correction programmes in the Assyl Miras centres participated: Alisher Akimbayev, Aslan Reimbay and Aruzhan Iliyas told their stories to Kazakhstanis.

 

In addition, six cities of Kazakhstan hosted open educational workshops for those who wanted to know more about this issue. Nobody knows the exact causes of wide spread of the ASD, but the Assyl Miras specialists would like to deliver one key message to everyone: autism is not a life sentence. There are effective techniques of adaptation and development of  basic skills for children with ASD at present. Such children can gain vitally important skills of communication, socialization, educability, development of talents – and live the full life.

A 5.5. km charity run was arranged in the city of Kzylorda at the initiative of Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation. Its purpose was raising people’s awareness about ASD symptoms in children and about importance of early diagnosis and correction. The Kzylorda Assyl Miras Autism Centre was opened in June 2016, and by now over 500 families have already approached it for assistance.

Those living in Nur-Sultan also celebrated this important day. A well-known Kazakhstani artist Beibit Assemkul held a painting master class in The Ritz Carlton Hotel for children with ASD and their families. Organisers of the event were The Ritz Carlton Hotel Astana, the Nur-Sultan City Assyl Miras Centre and the Art Masters London educational project in the field of fine arts.

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.

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.

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.

“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.