Expanded use of advanced procedures has reduced overseas referrals for children, lowered treatment costs for families and shifted pressure onto domestic healthcare systems, raising new questions about training, funding and long term sustainability as demand grows.
Uzbekistan expanded the use of advanced medical technologies across its healthcare system in 2025, according to data released by national health authorities. Artificial intelligence (AI) was deployed in 43 types of medical procedures by November, while 179 new diagnostic methods and 199 treatment techniques were introduced in specialised medical centres.
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At the regional level, facilities were performing 379 types of rare and complex surgical operations, health authorities said.
The broader availability of advanced procedures increases the country’s capacity to treat complex pediatric conditions domestically, reducing the need to refer children abroad for specialised care.
According to Bakhtiyorjon Umarov, Head of the National Children’s Medical Centre, the institution was created to concentrate advanced pediatric services in a single location. In addition to doctors and nursing staff, it employs technical specialists responsible for operating and maintaining complex medical equipment.
The facility has received international accreditation from a United States-based accrediting body after being assessed against roughly 1,200 clinical and operational standards. It is among about 1,000 medical institutions worldwide holding the accreditation and is the first standalone pediatric facility to do so.
A range of advanced procedures has been carried out there, including bone marrow and liver transplants, laparoscopic kidney transplants and the isolation of stem cells from peripheral blood.
Umarov said multidisciplinary teams comprising surgeons, anesthesiologists, intensive care specialists, nurses and laboratory staff completed training programmes in Russia, Belarus, Türkiye, China and South Korea prior to the introduction of several advanced procedures.
Transplantation and oncology care
Pediatric liver transplantation was performed for the first time in Uzbekistan on a seven-month-old infant using a living donor. Two liver segments were transplanted from the child’s mother, with post-operative recovery for both donor and recipient reported as stable.
Previously, children with congenital liver disorders, including malformations of the biliary tract, were referred abroad for transplantation. Even when a living donor was available, treatment overseas typically cost more than $50,000. These procedures are now available domestically.
Bone marrow transplantation has also been introduced as a treatment option for children with haematological and oncological diseases.
“This method is used when conventional therapies are insufficient, allowing for the replacement of malignant or damaged blood-forming cells with healthy stem cells,” Umarov said.
Around 40 bone marrow transplantations have been performed at the National Children’s Medical Centre. In cases where related donors were incompatible, haploidentical stem cell transplantation using unrelated donors was applied. Comparable procedures abroad usually cost between $100,000 and $250,000.
“Under national healthcare policy, medical services for children under the age of 18, including high-technology surgical procedures, are financed through state funds,” Umarov added.
Neurosurgery and neonatal care
At the Republican Specialised Scientific and Practical Centre for Neurosurgery, robot-assisted and navigation-guided systems have been introduced for selected procedures, including surgery for deep-seated brain tumours and pharmacoresistant epilepsy.
In one reported case, a six-month-old infant experiencing seizures unresponsive to medication underwent surgery using robotic assistance. Surgeons identified and removed the epileptogenic focus, and post-operative monitoring indicated that seizures had ceased.
Separately, conjoined twins born prematurely at 33–34 weeks were separated during an emergency operation at the Tashkent regional branch of the Republican Specialised Mother and Child Health Centre in Chirchik. The surgery was conducted around nine hours after birth by local specialists.
The twins shared sections of the intestine and urinary bladder, increasing the complexity of the procedure.
According to Professor Bakhtiyor Ergashev, Head of the Neonatal Surgery Centre at the Republican Perinatal Centre, the operation was particularly challenging due to the infants’ premature condition and shared internal organs. He said the procedure required a high degree of precision, especially after rupture of connective tissue following birth, which caused fluid leakage from the abdominal cavity.
Similar operations had previously been carried out in Uzbekistan on two occasions, one involving foreign specialists and another involving foreign patients, Ergashev said.
