Officially name: The Republic of Kazakhstan
Capital: Astana
Largest city: Almaty
Official language: Kazakh, Russian
Government: Presidential republic
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.
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.