Official statement: free care has not ended, the referral process has changed

Reports have spread on social media claiming that free service for Tashkent city patients at the Republican Oncology Center has been discontinued. The Center clarifies the following.

First, these reports are not true. Free service at the Republican Specialized Scientific-Practical Medical Center of Oncology and Radiology has not been discontinued — only the patient referral procedure has changed.

Previously, patients living in the capital came to the Center's city branch with a paper referral. Now, as in all other regions of Uzbekistan, they are referred to the facility through an electronic referral in the DMED system.

How a patient is referred

• The patient first visits their family polyclinic, where blood tests, X-ray and ultrasound are carried out free of charge.
• After examination by the district (city) oncologist, clarifying tests are performed.
• An electronic referral is generated through the DMED system.
• The referral is confirmed at the Oncology Center. After that, free examination, contrast CT/MRI, PET-CT, histology and immunohistochemistry, and free treatment (chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery) are provided.

Why the procedure was changed

Under the previous procedure, most patients were sent to the Center through DMED with only form 027, without undergoing the necessary tests at family and multi-field central polyclinics. As a result, the Center's polyclinic was overloaded and had to perform, at the expense of the State Medical Insurance Fund, tests that should have been done locally. Funds intended for high-technology care were spent on primary examinations, and it became harder to determine whether a patient from Tashkent needed care at the regional or the republican level.

The move to electronic referral resolves these problems: patients do not repeat tests, funds are genuinely directed to high-technology care, and each patient's route is transparent in the electronic system.

Importantly, it is prohibited to demand money from a referred patient for diagnosis, treatment, medicines or consumables, or to purchase these at the patient's expense. Services are provided on a paid basis only for planned visits made without a referral. Emergency care is always provided free of charge and without a referral.

Dear citizens, if, when you come with a referral, you encounter any demand for money or for buying medicines, call the Center's 1303 short-number Trust Line. Every appeal is reviewed promptly.

Republican Specialized Scientific-Practical Medical Center of Oncology and Radiology.