Medical cooperation between Kazakhstan and Israel

Medical cooperation began soon after diplomatic relations

On 27 December 1995, Kazakhstan and Israel signed a separate intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in health and medicine in Jerusalem. Kazakhstan approved the document by a government resolution in June 1996. It entered into force on 24 September 1998.

The agreement provided for exchanges of information and specialists for training and consultations, direct contacts between medical institutions and organisations, and exchanges of information on medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and technological developments. The two health ministries were to implement it through individual cooperation plans, including arrangements for funding.

Medical internships, partnerships between clinics and the memoranda of the 2020s have developed against the legal background of the 1995 agreement. The agreement itself does not establish that a particular programme or medical project has operated continuously since the 1990s.

Training medical specialists

Official publications document training and internships for Kazakhstani doctors at Israeli medical centres.

In August 2021, Kazakhstan's embassy reported that the SOMET scientific and educational centre, working with Kazakhstan's Ministry of Health and the embassy, had organised training and internships for more than 1500 Kazakhstani specialists at leading Israeli medical centres. The fields included oncology, cardiology, neurosurgery and other specialties. The same publication states that 11 Kazakhstani medical professionals completed special courses at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The centre had organised training for a total of 16 Kazakhstani doctors since the start of 2021.

In September 2023, an official Kazakhstani source reported more than 2000 Kazakhstani specialists who had undertaken training and internships at Israeli medical centres through various government programmes. 20 doctors from multidisciplinary hospitals in Semey received certificates after completing special courses at Rambam with support from the Abai regional administration.

The official publications report more than 1500 specialists by August 2021 and more than 2000 by September 2023. The sources cited here give no later combined figure.

“More than 1000 over ten years” in the overview dated 7 October 2019

The Kazakhstan embassy page also retains a statement that, over ten years, more than 1000 Kazakhstani doctors and nurses received specialist training at leading Israeli medical centres through an overseas internship programme. It separately mentions approximately 30 masterclasses held annually by Israeli specialists at Kazakhstani medical centres and clinics. The page's publication and update dates are both 7 October 2019. The relative wording refers to the decade before the overview, but the source does not specify the programme's exact calendar dates.

The sources use different periods, programmes and coverage. “More than 1500” and “more than 2000” are figures for particular dates, rather than numbers to add together. “More than 1000” belongs to the overview dated 7 October 2019, which does not specify the programme's exact dates.

The MASHAV figure covers a separate group of programmes. The embassy states that more than 300 Kazakhstani specialists have trained in Israel since 1993 with support from Israel's international cooperation agency. This is a combined figure for medicine, journalism, educational technology, agriculture, small business and water resource management. It does not mean “more than 300 medical professionals”.

The parties sought to update the medical agenda in 2022

By mid-2022, Kazakhstan's Ministry of Health was publicly raising the need to update the older treaty framework. At the ninth meeting of the Kazakhstan–Israel joint commission, Vice Minister of Health Aizhan Yesmagambetova proposed considering an update to the 1995 agreement. Priorities included training doctors and other medical staff, educational and scientific partnerships, pharmacy and the pharmaceutical industry.

In September, Kazakhstan's Minister of Health Azhar Giniyat visited Tel Aviv and met Israel's Minister of Health Nitzan Horowitz. The parties signed a new memorandum on further cooperation in health.

The official report identifies oncology, telemedicine, local production of medicines, training medical specialists, scientific activity and joint research. It also lists pharmacology, transplantation, biomedicine, healthcare digitalisation and personalised medicine.

The 2022 memorandum develops the medical agenda on the basis of the 1995 intergovernmental agreement.

Universities and clinics have their own network of ties

Intergovernmental documents are one level of cooperation. Direct relationships between medical universities and clinics developed alongside them.

Kazakhstan's Ministry of Health listed Sheba and Rafael medical centres, Hadassah University Hospital, and universities in Jerusalem and Ariel among the Israeli partners. At the time of that publication, Astana Medical University already had two cooperation memoranda with Sheba Medical Center.

A separate partnership developed with Ariel University. In 2022, Astana Medical University reported a strategic partnership covering master's, PhD and postdoctoral programmes, academic mobility, visiting lecturers and scientific cooperation. Clinical mobility could take place at Sheba Medical Center as a clinical training base for Ariel University.

Memoranda and strategic plans record agreed areas of work, rather than completed exchanges. Published information on particular programmes, student admissions and research results describes individual activities.

A clinical study combined Kazakhstani work, an Israeli power system and an American pump

Medical ties extend beyond training. A 2021 editorial by Yuriy Pya and Aigerim Abdiorazova describes use of the FIVAS system in two patients at Kazakhstan's National Research Cardiac Surgery Center. It combined wireless energy transfer technology from Israel's Leviticus Cardio with an American Jarvik left ventricular assist device. The authors refer to the initial clinical publication from 2019.

The authors describe the system's use in two patients. A ventricular assist device is not a complete replacement for the heart, and two cases do not establish widespread availability or long-term effectiveness. The design retained an external backup connector. The authors call for research involving more patients.

The 2019 publication names Yuriy Pya, Mahabbat Bekbossynova and Roman Salov from the Kazakhstani centre among its authors, alongside specialists from Sheba Medical Center, Leviticus Cardio and other organisations. The abstract identifies system performance at 30 days after implantation as the initial assessment endpoint. Two cases and a short follow-up period do not establish standard clinical practice.

See the 2021 editorial and the publication on the first clinical use of FIVAS in 2019.

The simulation centre memorandum does not establish that it opened

Medical simulation provides a clear example of the difference between a plan and an operating facility.

In 2022, the Ministry of Health reported that Astana Medical University had signed a memorandum with Sheba Medical Center to create and develop a new simulation centre. The publication states that the centre's opening was expected. The parties discussed standards, simulation training protocols, infrastructure, clinical scenarios and staff training.

During the visit, the parties also discussed recognition of Astana Medical University's diploma by Israel's Ministry of Health.

The 2022 report describes a planned simulation centre. The published sources do not confirm its subsequent commissioning.

Sheba has the specialised MSR-Azrieli medical simulation education centre and offers international programmes on designing simulation training. The Israeli centre's activities do not establish that a simulation centre has opened in Kazakhstan.

Scientific contacts after the COVID-19 pandemic

In spring 2022, a Kazakhstani delegation discussed joint research in Israel on the consequences of COVID-19. Topics included rehabilitation of patients with post-COVID syndrome and the effects of past infection on other infectious and non-infectious diseases.

The publication establishes that joint research on the consequences of COVID-19 was discussed. It does not report a completed study, publication or implemented clinical programme.

Pharmaceutical and medical technology launches remain less documented than proposals

Following the September 2022 memorandum, the parties began discussing further technology projects.

In December, the Ministry of Health met representatives connected with BioPharmax and RadiumKZ to discuss possible construction of bioparks in Kazakhstan. Topics included medicines policy, local production and a possible memorandum between the ministry and RadiumKZ.

The same meeting considered a possible ODMachine pilot at the National Research Oncology Center and the Kazakh Research Institute of Oncology and Radiology. ODMachine also reported talks on a project in Kazakhstani oncology in December 2022.

The original publications use phrases such as “possibilities were discussed”, “pilot project” and “possible signing”. The available publications do not establish that the bioparks were commissioned or that ODMachine began operating at the named institutions.

The December 2022 publications record project discussions, rather than construction of pharmaceutical plants or implementation of an AI platform in national oncology services.

Medicine remained among the areas of bilateral contacts in 2025. In January 2026, the foreign ministers separately identified health, pharmaceuticals and medical technology as fields with potential for further practical work. In June 2026, medicine again appeared among the priorities for preparations for the next intergovernmental commission meeting.

In brief

• 27 December 1995. Kazakhstan and Israel signed a separate intergovernmental agreement on health and medicine. It entered into force on 24 September 1998.
• August 2021. An official source reports more than 1500 Kazakhstani specialists trained through SOMET. A separate group of 11 medical professionals completed courses at Rambam.
• 2022. Kazakhstan proposed updating the earlier agreement. In September, the health ministers signed a new memorandum covering oncology, telemedicine, pharmacology, transplantation, biomedicine, digitalisation and other fields.
• 2022. Astana Medical University announced a memorandum with Sheba to create a simulation centre. The available publications do not establish that it was commissioned.
• December 2022. The parties discussed BioPharmax and RadiumKZ bioparks and an ODMachine oncology pilot. The source records discussions, rather than completed implementation.
• September 2023. Twenty doctors from Semey completed internships at Rambam. The same publication estimated that more than 2000 Kazakhstani specialists had trained in Israel through various government programmes.
• 2025 and 2026. Health, pharmaceuticals and medical technology feature in the official agenda. Reports of talks and memoranda do not establish that new facilities have begun operating.