Ismailia hospitals raise alert upon Health Minister visit

CAIRO – 8 February 2018: The Health Affairs Directorate in Ismailia has announced a higher state of alert as Health Minister Ahmed Emad Eddin is set to make a tour in the governorate’s hospitals and health clinics next week, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.

The minister’s tour comes as a preliminary step to stand on the necessary executive levels that precede launching the Parliament-approved comprehensive health insurance law.

On December 21, 2017, the Parliament approved the comprehensive LE 600 billion health insurance law. The 67-article law 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; it 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.

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

It is pertinent to mention that the minister has announced the establishment of an integrated medical city in the new administrative capital.

The medical city will be of the highest quality possible level and will include three hospitals. Each hospital will be established on an area of 20,000 square meters.