Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi conferred on Monday with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli and Health Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar to discuss the status of national health projects.
Discussions during the meeting focused on the ongoing work to develop the Nasser Institute into a world-class medical city, as well as other projects such as the new Central Laboratories headquarters, the Menouf Cancer Hospital, and the upgrading of the Om El Masryeen Hospital, Presidency Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy said.
The General Authority for Hospitals and Educational Institutes’ project to build a medical city project in the New Administrative Capital was considered during the meeting.
President Sisi then followed up on the progress of activities of the state-funded medical treatment programmes. The presentations made during the meeting showed that more than four million decisions for fee-free medical treatment were issued under these programmes in 2023, Spokesman Fahmy said.
Some 2.5 million patients benefited from these programmes which cost the state 22 billion Egyptian pounds, the presentations also showed.
The progress of the presidential initiatives in the field of public health was then reviewed with special reference to initiative for finishing off waiting lists, which has completed more than two million surgeries since its launch.
While considering the status of the medical support that Egypt extends to the people of the Gaza Strip, President Sisi was briefed on the plan to designate referral hospitals, Spokesman Fahmy said. The plan comprises 47 hospitals in 8 governorates.
Under this plan, more than 2,200 injured Gazans have been received and more than 1,200 surgeries have been performed, in addition to providing health and treatment services to those crossing the Rafah border, the spokesman said.
In light of this review, President Sisi stressed Egypt’s continued commitment to providing all forms of support to the Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip, within the framework of Egypt’s constant keenness to alleviate the humanitarian repercussions they are facing, Spokesman Fahmy said, adding that the president praised the noble role undertaken by the Egyptian health sector in supporting the people of the Gaza Strip.
The package of investment incentives offered by the Cabinet in the health sector was then reviewed. These incentives aim to promote investment in the healthcare field, increase the number of hospital beds to match global rates, and pump more local and international investments into the health sector, thereby contributing to expansion in the establishment of hospitals, medical centres, and primary healthcare units.
President Sisi stressed the importance of implementing the investment incentives quickly and efficiently, emphasising the need to continue working to provide the highest levels of integrated medical services to citizens, especially to those of them who cannot afford.
The president also called for facilitating their access to such medical services in order to achieve the state’s goal of improving the public health level for all citizens, Spokesman Fahmy said.
