Egypt to approve lung transplantation

CAIRO – 26 September 2022: Egypt would, for the first time, approve lung transplantation, said Minister of Health Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar in media comments on Monday.

He added in comments to the Salet Al Tahrir (The Newsroom) that Egypt would establish a national organ transplant network and a research center.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi directed the government to establish a regional center for organ transplantation in Egypt, to be the largest one of its kind in the Middle East and Africa, says Presidency Spokesman Bassam Rady.

The new center will be part of a new medical city that would replace Nasser Medical Institution in Cairo in cooperation with major international specialized companies, with the aim of the establishment of an integrated system, which includes an automated database of organ transplantation, patients, and donors.

Rady added.

President Sisi’s comments were given in a meeting with Prime Minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly; Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar; and Head of the Engineering Authority of the Armed Forces, Major General Hisham El Swefy, on Monday to follow up on efforts to improve the healthcare system in Egypt.

The Minister of Health offered an overview of the state’s health map. This included the number of government and private medical facilities, their medical equipment, and medical staff, as well as linking the health map to the database of the presidential initiative 100 million health and its health- and medical care programs and initiatives for citizens.

The meeting also discussed the upgrading of Nasser Institute as part of efforts to turn it into a global medical city.

The Minister of Health and Population reviewed work progress in the establishment of the medical city at Nasser Institute Hospital, which has a capacity of 1,200 intensive care beds and 45 operation rooms.

Abdel Ghaffar also presented the details of the establishment of the new Umm Al-Masryein Hospital, with a capacity of 400 beds. The hospital will provide its services to about 3 million people and is considered the main hospital to receive road accident victims in Giza Governorate and its suburbs.

The President directed to speed up the implementation of the financial incentives package for medical staff, as well as evening clinics in hospitals and allocating a percentage of their return to doctors and medical staff. This would achieve additional income for the medical staff commensurate with the efforts exerted to deliver health care services.

The Minister of Health also briefed the meeting on the achievements of the presidential initiative to end waiting lists over the past 4 years since its launch. He said 466 public and private hospitals participated in the initiative, which succeeded to provide treatment for one million and 370,000 patients, at a total cost of 12 billion pounds. The President gave directives to provide additional financial resources to expand the initiative and add new surgical specialties. He underlined the need to raise citizens’ awareness on how to benefit from this initiative and to simplify the relevant administrative procedures.