Sisi orders completing HCV treatment within a year

CAIRO – 23 May 2017: Egyptian army will aid the health ministry to complete the state scheme of hepatitis C treatment within a year, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered during the opening of a series of projects in Damietta, Tuesday.

Ahmed Emad el-Din, minister of health, told al-Sisi that the government program of hepatitis C treatment to confront the epidemic was scheduled to be completed over a two year period, though the president asked the for the hastening of the process in cooperation with the army.

“We hope to reach international rates of hepatitis C treatment within a year,” said al-Sisi on his official Twitter account.

Emad el-Din pointed out that 1.5 million people were diagnosed with hepatitis C in Egypt, at a treatment cost of about LE 3.16 billion, noting that 96,000 patients are registered annually to receive treatment.

He revealed that the Schistosomiasis treatment during 2008 with non-sterile injection equipment contributed to the spread of the hepatitis C virus in Egypt.

About 170,000 people were treated between October 2014 and the end of 2015, with 500,000 more who started treatment between January and September 2016, according to World Health Organization’s (WHO) global report on access to hepatitis C treatment.

Furthermore, the minster conducted a presentation on the country’s plan to establish several national projects in the medical sector, noting that Egypt was ranked fourth globally in the rate of infection of the virus, adding that the ministry had provided Hepatitis C treatment for all people on the waiting lists by last July.

On the other hand, the Egyptian president ordered the forming of a joint committee, including the Administrative Control Authority, the Ministry of Health and medical colleges nationwide to supervise all related affairs of medical waste disposal methods in state-run hospitals and medical centers.

Earlier this month, al-Sisi ordered the Ministry of Interior and the army to launch a wide security campaign to reclaim state land seized illegally within a period of one month.

According to a security source at the ministry, the campaign has already reclaimed dozens of feddans (feddan=1.038 acres), and deployed intensive security forces to secure these areas.

“No one is above the law,” al-Sisi said, asserting that “Egyptians are capable of restoring their (illegally seized) lands… and the government will not surrender a single meter of these lands”, during his visit to Damietta governorate.

Al-Sisi concluded that he would hold a meeting with army leaders, governors and heads of security directorates by the end of May, to review the developments and progress on the issue.