Authority to ensure quality medical services within new law

CAIRO – 21 December 2017: This week, the Parliament approved a comprehensive LE 600 billion health insurance bill.

Minister of the House of Representatives Affairs Omar Marawan said, during the Parliament session to discuss the bill on Monday, that the 67-article bill is the outcome of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s directives to present it as a gift to Egyptian citizens.

The law will be applied gradually to all Egyptian citizens in the coming years. Citizens who may not be financially capable to meet the system’s requirements will receive contributions from the government; it is expected that the government will pay contributions to one-third of Egyptians.

The cost of the law is expected to reach LE 9 billion during its first year of implementation and will amount to LE 600 billion by 2032, according to Deputy Minister of Finance for Treasury Affairs Mohamed Moait.

Moait added during the session that LE 3 billion was allocated of next year’s general budget for financially incapable citizens.

The Ministry of Social Solidarity will be in charge of determining which patients qualify for free medical care.

He said the new health insurance system will be reviewed periodically for three years to ensure its sustainability, and will be submitted to the Parliament for amendment in case of any deficiency.

The government seeks to apply the system during its first stage in five governorates, namely Port Said, Suez, Ismailia, North Sinai and South Sinai, and will be generalized across the country between 2018 and 2032.

The new law is considered to be the first medical insurance system to cover all citizens, however, questions rise about whether this law has any loopholes, or more significantly, has the necessary guarantees to preserve its progress.

Member of the Parliament’s Health Affairs Committee Ayman Abul-Ela, told Egypt Today in an interview that an independent authority will be established to follow up on the system’s quality of application.

As stipulated by the new law, the authority will report directly to the Presidency every three months.

According to Abul-Ela, the authority will issue approvals and supervise the implementation of the law in accordance with high international standards to ensure presenting quality medical services, improve the competence of medical equipment and staff all over the country.

Abul-Ela pointed out that the law obliged all public hospitals to be integrated into the new medical insurance system to get their certificates of accreditation and quality within three years to ensure there are enough hospitals to serve citizens in all governorates.

As stipulated by the 26th article of the law, a public service authority is to be established in Cairo under the title “The Quality and Authorization Authority” with an independent legal personality and budget.

Duties of the abovementioned authority are determined by articles no. 26 and 27 of the new law to ensure providing, regulating and preserving quality medical services according to specific quality standards as set out by executive regulations of the law.

The authority will also supervise and monitor all medical facilities and staff; it will also set standards to ensure providing high quality medical services.

The authority will also inspect registered medical facilities periodically, not to mention that it will cooperate with medical control authorities and international organizations for the quality assurance process.


Photo by Egypt Today/Mohamed Zain