Egypt's PM follows up healthcare services to be covered under national project to upgrade villages

CAIRO - 16 March 2020: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli chaired a meeting on Monday to follow up on the status of healthcare services that were set to be offered within the framework of the national project to upgrade the Egyptian countryside as part of the Decent Life Presidential Initiative.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Health Hala Zayed, Health Ministry Spokesman Khaled Megahed, along with senior health officials.

The prime minister asserted the importance attached to the health sector to implement the Decent Life Presidential Initiative to upgrade Egyptian villages, noting that improving the healthcare services is a priority for the initiative.

Meanwhile, the health minister reviewed her ministry’s strategy to be implemented as part of the national project to upgrade Egyptian villages, saying the strategy targets achieving the highest levels of satisfaction among citizens via enhancing the quality of health services.

She added that a health facility will be built in each village covered under the project, noting that the facilities that are not included in the health insurance system will also be upgraded.

Early March, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi instructed increasing the number of vehicles and ambulances used in medical caravans and mobile units operated by the Ministry of Health and Population in rural villages, the presidency spokesperson indicated in a statement. 

That was in a meeting the president held with the prime minister, and the ministers of health, local development, and housing as well as the chairman of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority to follow up on the implementation on "Decent Life" initiative.

Decent Life initiative is an initiative endorsed by President Abdel Fattah el Sisi, with the main objective of improving the quality of life in the poorest rural communities within the framework of the Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030, through decreasing multidimensional poverty and unemployment rates.

The initiative has four pillars: first: improving living-standards and investing in human capital; second: developing infrastructure services; third: raising the quality of human development services; fourth: economic development.

The initiative provides poorest villages with increased access to the basic services such as health, education, water and sanitation, it said.