Photo: bobek.kz
Sara Nazarbayeva, wife of Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, has been hospitalized in serious condition in Almaty. The news first surfaced on several Telegram channels on the morning of May 5 and was later confirmed by sources from Kazakh outlets Kursiv.kz and ORDA.kz.
According to these reports, the former first lady is being treated at the National Hospital of the Presidential Affairs Administration’s Medical Center—better known as “Sovminka.” Close family members are reportedly by her side. The exact nature of her illness has not been disclosed.
Sara Nazarbayeva was born on February 12, 1941. Early in life, she worked in industry and later earned a degree in economics. In 1992, she founded the Bobek Children’s Foundation, which supported orphans and introduced the “Self-Knowledge” educational program in schools.
She served as Kazakhstan’s first lady from 1991 to 2019 and received numerous international awards for her contributions to charity and child welfare. She and Nursultan Nazarbayev have three daughters.
On December 26 of last year, the Telegram channel BES.media incorrectly reported her death. The information was swiftly denied by former president Nazarbayev’s spokesperson, Aidos Ukibay. The following day, the outlet stated that a draft obituary had been mistakenly published for several seconds due to a technical error and expressed regret over the incident.
