Accreditating mental health centers as part of Egypt's comprehensive insurance system is being studied: Official

CAIRO - 12 April 2023: Chairman of the General Authority for Health Accreditation and Control met with a number of officials Wednesday to discuss the accreditation of mental health centers as part of the comprehensive insurance system. 

 

The authority is studying the approval of providing mental health services to beneficiaries of the comprehensive health insurance system. 

 

 Dr. Ahmed Taha, Chairman of the General Authority for Health Accreditation and Control, and a number of members of the Board of Directors of the Authority met with Dr. Manal Al-Attar, Head of the Central Department of the Technical Secretariat of the National Council for Mental Health, and Dr. Ahmed Gamal Abu Al-Azayem, President of the Egyptian Association for Mental Health, in a joint coordination meeting to discuss training Medical cadres in mental health facilities to meet the mental health standards issued by the authority.

 

The authority has recently obtained international accreditation from ESCWA, with a success rate of 99%, as the first standards in the field of mental health care in the Arab world.

 

Prof. Dr. Ahmed Taha welcomed the joint cooperation with the National Council for Mental Health, stressing the completion of the Egyptian health system with the issuance of Law No. 210 of 2020 for the treatment of the mental patient issued by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

 

He added that the common goal that the authority seeks with the National Council for Mental Health to develop policies that ensure respect for the rights and safety of mental health patients.

 

Dr. Manal Al-Attar, Head of the Central Administration of the Technical Secretariat of the National Council for Mental Health, praised the efforts made by GAHAR and the need to work on integration between GAHAR standards and the standards issued by the Council for licensing the Ministry of Health to manage and operate mental health facilities, and welcomed the cooperation with the authority to rehabilitate mental health hospitals and centers. To obtain the approval of the Authority in preparation for providing its services to the beneficiaries of the comprehensive health insurance system.

 

For his part, Dr. Ahmed Gamal Abu Al-Azayem, a member of the Board of Directors of the Health Care Chamber, the National Council for Mental Health and the Egyptian Association for Mental Health, expressed his pride in the comprehensive health insurance system and the great strides that have been made in the field of mental health in Egypt recently, especially the launch of the national electronic platform for health services.

 

He also praised the expected national role of quality standards and the Health Accreditation and Control Authority in regulating professional practices in the mental health sector, and affirmed his aspiration for cooperation between the Accreditation and Control Authority, the National Council for Mental Health and psychiatric hospitals to upgrade the psychological services system in Egypt.