ASTANA -- Kazakhstan plans to implement in 2019 an innovative cancer treatment to reduce medical costs and to attract medical tourism, Kazinform reported Monday (July 2).
Plans are in place to introduce radiosurgery -- performed with highly focused radiation, not with a scalpel -- to treat small brain tumours, according to Serik Akshulakov, president of the Kazakh Association of Neurosurgeons.
He made his remarks on the sidelines of the 4th Congress of Neurosurgeons of Kazakhstan taking place in Astana Monday.
Gamma Knife therapy enables patients to recover with just 30-40 minutes of computer-aided radiation exposure, he said.
Sending patients abroad for such treatment costs about €20,000 to €50,000 (7.9 million to 19.8 million KZT), according to Akshulakov. Conducting the same procedure in Kazakhstan will be much cheaper if the country buys the equipment.
Introducing radiosurgery could "double the number of medical tourists" who come, he said.
