In connection with the publication of the decision to leave the country, MSF has published a report which represents an insight into how the people of Turkmenistan are being failed by their health care system and government, and the international community. The report exposes a system designed to conceal problems instead of ensuring care. The report is important not only to understand Turkmenistan’s healthcare system, but also because it gives a rare opportunity to better understand the regime of former Minister of Health, president Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov.
-The purpose of this report is to shed light on some of the key issues in Turkmenistan’s health care system and to raise concerns about the role of international actors in the country. Anonymised examples from MSF’s experience of working directly with the country’s health care system illustrate the extent to which the capacity to make real change or improvement was constrained. Instead, international organizations help perpetuate the problems by giving a veneer of legitimacy to figures and practices that are not only ineffective, but often dangerous, MSF states in the report. MSF was the only international NGO allowed to operate in Turkmenistan.