Egypt’s Sisi directs to improve accessibility to healthcare services for citizens

CAIRO – 27 March2023: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah gave directives to the government to continue current efforts to improve the accessibility to and quality of healthcare services delivered to the citizens, said Presidential Spokesperson Ahmed Fahmy in a statement on Sunday.

President’s directives were given in a meeting with Prime Minister, Dr. Moustafa Madbouly, and Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, to follow-up on efforts to upgrade the healthcare system in Egypt. The meeting was also attended by Head of the Armed Forces’ Financial Affairs Authority, Lieutenant General Ahmed El-Shazly, and Chairman of the Armed Forces’ Engineering Authority, Major General Ahmed Al-Azzazi.

The President emphasized that the health dossier is an issue of top priority on the state’s agenda and is receiving huge interest and intensive work to overcome the structural challenges facing it in order to constantly improve the healthcare system in Egypt and achieve the interest of all Egyptians from all categories.

The Spokesperson said the Minister of Health and Population offered an overview of progress in the implementation of projects underway in the health sector. This included the upgrading of Nasser Institute to become an integrated medical city; the establishment of a new world-class Central Laboratories Complex; and the upgrading of a number of major hospitals such as Om El-Masreyyin, Heliopolis and the Coptic Hospitals.

He also briefed the meeting on work progress in the establishment of the new National Cancer Institute 500500 and the plan for the construction of a new Heart Institute that will be implemented in line with international standards to enhance the role of the National Heart Institute, which is considered one of the largest specialized medical edifices serving heart patients. This is, in addition to the construction of a new and integrated complex for mental health, addiction treatment and geriatric medicine.

The meeting also followed-up on the latest developments with regard to the various presidential health initiatives, including the initiatives’ successes over the past years to improve the health of citizens of all categories and their positive return on the health planning at the national level. This included primarily the 100 Million Health Initiative for the elimination of Hepatitis C; the Egyptian Women's Health Initiative, which seeks to early detect cancer; the presidential initiative to end waiting lists, which succeeded to treat around one million and 632 thousand patients; the Pre-Marriage Medical Test Initiative, which targeted 67-thousand individuals; the Mother and Fetus presidential initiative; and the initiatives to support the health of newborns and school students. This is, in addition to the detection of hereditary diseases and healthcare for the elderly.