Free Medical Conferences with a Certificate in Kazakhstan: What Counts Toward CPD
Kazakhstan's CPD rules never mention the cost of an event: a free conference earns as many credits as a paid one. What a certificate must contain for a day of attendance to convert into credits, and why documents get rejected.
Kazakhstan's CPD confirmation rules do not mention the cost of an event even once. A free conference earns exactly as many credits as one costing 150,000 tenge. What matters is the level of the event and what the supporting document says.
Below: what a certificate must contain for a day at a free conference to convert into credits, and why documents get rejected.
Terminology note: the Russian text of the CPD regulation uses "зачётная единица" (ЗЕ) and the Kazakh text uses "сынақ бірлігі" (СБ). Both are Kazakhstan's local names for what international practice calls a CPD credit. We use "credit" throughout.
Price has no effect on credit calculation
The Rules for confirming CPD results (Order of the Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. ҚР ДСМ-283/2020 of 20 December 2020, as amended) list 21 criteria for awarding credits. Not one of them mentions the cost of participation — neither as a condition nor as a multiplier.
Three things actually determine whether credits are awarded:
- match with the profile of the declared specialty — a therapist will not be credited for a dentistry congress;
- the level of the event — regional, national, or international;
- a correctly issued supporting document — this is where it usually breaks.
How many credits participation earns
| What counts | Level | Award |
|---|---|---|
| Convention, congress, conference | regional or municipal | 1 day = 5 credits; presentation = 10 |
| Convention, congress, conference | national | 1 day = 10 credits; presentation = 50 |
| Convention, congress, conference | international | 1 day = 40 credits; presentation = 100 |
| In-person seminars, trainings, masterclasses | — | 1 hour = 0.5 credits |
| Webinars, online courses, distance learning | — | 1 hour = 0.5 credits |
Source: Annex 1 to the Rules, chapters 2 and 3.
This exposes the arithmetic that explains why free events are underrated: a free one-day national congress earns 10 credits, while a paid eight-hour webinar earns 4. Format and level outweigh the price tag.
What the document must contain
The Rules set different documentation requirements for different activity types. This is the part most people skip.
For a convention, congress or conference you need a participant document and (or) the event programme showing:
- the presenter's full name,
- the topic,
- the venue,
- the organizer,
- the date.
The wording "and (or)" means a certificate without a programme may be enough — but only if the certificate itself contains those details. This is why a certificate reading simply "participation in the conference is confirmed" is a weak document.
For seminars, trainings, masterclasses and webinars you need a copy of the training completion certificate, and the criterion explicitly requires "indication of the number of hours or credits". Without hours there is nothing to calculate: the tariff runs per hour.
For a professional development cycle — a copy of the completion certificate showing hours or credits and the level of the educational programme.
Four reasons a document gets rejected
No hours stated. For webinars and masterclasses, the hour count is the entire basis of the calculation. A certificate without hours does not convert into credits.
The event level is not stated. The gap between regional and international is eightfold (5 versus 40 credits per day). If the level appears nowhere in the paperwork, proving international status falls on you.
Profile does not match the specialty. The requirement "in accordance with the profile of the declared specialty" repeats in nearly every criterion of Annex 1.
No date or organizer. For conferences these fields are listed directly in the supporting-document requirements.
Online versus in person: a difference, but not in price
Webinars and online courses are credited at the same rate as in-person seminars — 1 hour = 0.5 credits. The Rules contain no separate reduction factor for distance formats.
Participation in a convention, congress or conference, however, is counted in days rather than hours, and that is the most valuable line in the tariff. If an event runs in hybrid format and the organizer issues a participant document with all the required details, attending remotely does not reduce the award.
What to check before registering
Before putting an event into your CPD plan, it is worth confirming three things with the organizer:
- which level will appear in the documents — regional, national or international;
- what exactly participants receive, and which fields the document will carry;
- for a seminar or webinar — how many academic hours will be recorded.
Three questions in an email before paying (or before registering for free) save you an argument when confirming your category five years later, by which time the organizer is no longer reachable.
This material is for reference only. The current version of the Rules and annexes is published at adilet.zan.kz. Requirements may change: the order was amended in 2024 and 2025.
