State treated 2.7M patients for LE 4.702 billion in 2016

CAIRO – 7 June 2017: Roughly 2.7 million patients received state-funded medical treatment in 2016 at a total cost of LE 4.7 billion ($250 million), Health Minister Ahmed Emad El Din told Egypt Today Wednesday.

Emad El Din said the ministry is focusing on chronic diseases such as hepatitis C, hepatitis B, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases. He added that more hospitals to provide state-funded health care are being established.

In fiscal year 2016/2017, Parliament allocated three percent of the total state budget to health care. That three percent coincided with the written budget set in the constitution, for a total sum of LE 74.6 billion ($4 billion).

In July 2016, the minister announced that the list all of hepatitis C patients in Egypt had been treated: nearly one million people at a cost of almost LE 5 billion. Funds were granted through the Ministry of Health, General Authority for Health Insurance and Tahya Misr Fund.