Uzbekistan’s acting minister of health, Asilbek Khudayarov, has announced that the country recently conducted medical examinations in the majority of its schools and kindergartens.
In the first half of this year, Khudayarov said, 5.7 million of Uzbekistan’s 5.9 million schoolchildren were given check-ups. It was found that 1.3 million of these children (27.9%) were suffering from an illness of some kind. Eighty-one percent could be given simple treatments.
Among kindergarten-age children, 1.3 million of 2 million pupils (63.5%) underwent a medical examination, and 26% of these were diagnosed with an illness.
Khudayarov said that the most common illnesses were blood conditions (28.4% of cases), with anaemia a particularly common ailment. These were followed by problems with the respiratory and digestive systems (6.9% and 5.4% respectively).
Almost 13 million Uzbek citizens – over a third of the population – are under the age of 18.
The acting minister also noted that in recent years, fewer young Uzbeks have been traveling abroad for treatment, because hospitals in Uzbekistan are increasingly equipped with high-tech equipment.
Khudayarov mentioned that presently, in addition to Tashkent, hospitals have high-tech diagnostic equipment in four regions of Uzbekistan: Samarkand, Andijan, Fergana, and Namangan. Citizens in these regions can receive quality treatment without coming to the capital.
