Egypt announces flat rates for hospitals' quarantine prices

CAIRO – 3 June 2020: Relatively flat rates have been set for coronavirus patients after receiving a massive number of complaints about the high prices demanded by hospitals to accept patients.

Head of the Minister of Health Office Mohamed Abdel Wahab sent Head of the Central Department for Free Therapy and Medical Licenses Nihal al-Shaer a letter regarding the prime minister’s instructions to regulate and control the prices of COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals.

According to the details included in Abdel Wahab's letter, Minister of Health Hala Zayed agreed on following, “The cost of isolation in one of the hospital’s departments ranges from LE 1,500 to LE 3,000, the cost of isolation in intensive care, including a ventilator ranges from LE 7,500 to LE 10,000, and the cost of isolation inside intensive care without a ventilator ranges from LE 5,000 to LE 7,000.

These prices include service, supplies, doctors, nursing, and accommodation in full, as well as all the needed medical procedures, according to the letter.

On June 1, Egypt recorded 1,399 new coronavirus cases, upping the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak in Egypt to 26,384.

In a statement, spokesman for the Health Ministry Khaled Megahed said 46 patients died from the virus raising the death toll to 1,005. "As many as 410 patients were discharged from isolation hospitals after receiving necessary medical care, taking the total number of recoveries to 6,447 so far," the spokesman said.