Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi launched an Egyptian initiative to provide a number of sisterly African states with 30 mn anti-coronavirus vaccine doses.
During a dialogue session held on Sunday under the theme of “towards flexible and sustainable health systems in Africa” the president said all potentials in Egypt are available for African brethren.
The session was held within the framework of the 1st Africa Health ExCon.
President Sisi said he highly understands the suffering of any human being whether in Africa or in any world country.
“It is through will and hope that progress could be realized,” the president said.
The president highlighted Egypt’s efforts in the early detection of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Egypt and putting an end to the virus.
Meantime, the president thanked US Scientist Harvey James Alter, who was awarded 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries that led to the identification of the Hepatitis C virus.
Sisi welcomed all participants of the 1st Africa Health ExCon, voicing appreciation of efforts exerted to render the gathering a success.
President Sisi said the lack of resources should not be an obstacle impeding the rea
lization of objectives.
He cited Egypt’ s experiment in fighting Hepatitis C, saying Egypt was able to obtain virus C medications at a lower-cost from US companies, which contributed a great deal to fighting the virus.
Meantime, the president noted that Africa is a promising market for pharmaceutical companies.
Sisi further voiced Egypt’s preparedness to cooperate with African countries in all training and exchanging expertise fields related to the pharmaceutical industry.
President Sisi asserted that the lack of resources in Africa is no obstacle to achieving goals or addressing besetting challenges as long as there is relentless will and resolve.
The country’s economic resources don’t allow offering health care for over 100 million citizens, but these circumstances have never demotivated the country, which sought over the past few years other alternatives.
Egypt, he noted, has launched several initiatives to solve certain problems, including the ‘100 Million Health’ initiative and its sub-goal of the early detection of Hepatitis C virus, which was until recently one the country’s biggest public health threats.
The 100 Million Health Initiative was launched in 2018 to screen and eliminate hepatitis and non-communicable diseases. In July 2020, the country announced it was free of Hepatitis C.
The president stated that he directed the acting health minister to reduce the waiting time for patients awaiting state-funded surgeries and critical medical interventions, noting that the country has performed around 1.3 million surgeries at an average cost of EGP 100,000-400,000.
President Sisi explained that the State targets finalizing the Universal Health Insurance System in 10 years instead of 15 years to offer excellent medial services to citizens.
The six-phase healthcare scheme, launched experimentally in 2018 in five governorates, is set to be completed nationwide by 2027, with the second phase kicking off between 2021 and 2023.
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