Until the 1950s Astana (Aqmola), was a tiny mining town. Then Nikita Khruschev announced his Virgin Lands scheme to turn 250,000 sq km of Kazakhstan steppe into wheat fields.
Kazakhstan, officially known as the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country located in Central Asia, with a small part of its territory in Eastern Europe.
299,5 billion tenge are provided for the Kazakhstan healthcare sector in the Republican budget in 2009, 411,6 billion tenge in 2010 and 368,9 billion tenge in 2011. Annually Government invests 25-30 billion tenge for purchase of medical equipment.