Matluba Mukhamedova, Communications Officer in the Tashkent Office, offers this story.
Doctor Kahramon Tursunov is well known in his quiet village in the Fergana valley, where he was born and to which he returned after becoming a pediatrician.
"People in my village approached me to get treatment for various diseases; adults or women with traumas, eye or skin diseases and sometimes even cases of contagious diseases," says Dr.Tursunov. He wanted to help, but could not. He was supposed to treat children only.
His wish to help patients of all kinds came true in 2001 when family medicine was introduced in Uzbekistan. Doctor Tursunov retrained as a general practitioner and now heads the village's new clinic. "In 2001 a new building for this rural polyclinic was built, and I became the chief doctor here. I went to Tashkent for a 10-month special training course to become a general practitioner. Now I have consultations with pregnant women and diagnose a number of diseases."
Doctor Tursunov's training and clinic are the result of a World Bank-supported project aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of health care in Uzbekistan. First reforms were undertaken mostly in rural areas. They are now being extended to urban areas.