Egyptian government details plan for healthcare at countryside within 'Decent Life' initiative

CAIRO – 3 August 2022: The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development showcased in a press statement Wednesday that the budget allocated to the healthcare sector in FY2022/2023 within Decent Life initiative is LE 2.8 billion.

Those will be spent on equipping 15 hospitals, and 18 healthcare units, and are part of a LE 45.9-billion plan to renovate healthcare services nationwide in the current fiscal year.

Assistant to Minister of Planning and Economic Development Gamil Helmy stated in June that Decent Life initiative will be completed by 2025 at a cost that would near LE1 trillion.

The initiative was launched in 2021 and was scheduled to finish in 2024 at a cost of LE700 billion.

The official pointed out that the pilot phase – implemented in 2019 - targeted the poorest 375 villages, reducing poverty among their residents by 11 percent. As for the first phase, it consisted of 1,500 villages and was worth LE200 billion.

In spite of COVID-19, poverty prevalence in Egypt declined from 32.5 percent in FY2017/2018 to 29.7 percent in FY2019/2020. As poverty mostly exists in the countryside, the progress is attributed to Decent Life initiative.

The pilot phase alone is worth LE5.4 billion ($337.5 million), and had as beneficiaries 4.5 million citizens.  The projects accomplished include introducing utilities in 16,000 houses, and building ceilings for those that lacked them. That is in addition to 54 modern healthcare units; 2,800 classrooms whose total capacity is 100,000 students; and, 82 veterinary units. 

Electrical grids and the lighting of streets were enhanced as well as 216 security, firefighting, and landscaping units. Water coverage became 94 percent up from 86 percent in 151 rural communities, while wastewater coverage rose to 100 percent in 63 rural communities with investments worth LE1 billion. Further, 163 roads were paved across 331 rural communities.

The number of target villages is 4,500. Those are home to 58 million beneficiaries, who compose almost 60 percent of the Egyptian population.

The goals of the initiative are as follows:

Rehabilitating houses, building ceilings for houses that lack them, and building residential communities in villages in need.

Connecting the houses to water supply, wastewater, natural gas, and electricity networks. 

Introducing infrastructure necessary for micro enterprises.

Providing medical services, building hospitals and healthcare units, and equipping them with the necessary devices and medical staff.

Operating medical caravans, and offering prosthetics. 

Improving the quality of schools, and nurseries, and establishing literacy classrooms.

Expanding economic empowerment, vocational training, and employment through micro, small, and medium enterprises.

Establishing industrial, and craft complexes.

Bolstering food supply chains, and providing subsidized food.