In a continuous effort to upgrade the main significant governmental services in Egypt, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met on Sunday with the Prime Minister, Sherif Ismail, Health Minister Ahmed Emad Al Din, and Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy to establish a new developmental programme for health insurance in Egypt.
During the meeting both, ministers presented the new suggested programme for health insurance in Egypt, which will focus on establishing a unified legal framework to closely monitor the flow of the new health insurance programme. The insurance programme will include various social levels; a specific budget will also be allocated to support the programme financially. Furthermore, the beneficiaries will be given the freedom to choose the medical service providers they prefer.
The new health insurance programme, will be based upon the cooperation between three main governmental entities; the first entity is the Public Administration for Health Insurance; it will be specialised in providing the needed medical supplies for the programme; the second is the General Organisation for Health Insurance, which will supervise the medical services provided, and finally the General Organisation for Health Services Supervision, which will be specialised in setting the quality control and applying strict supervision over the provided medical services. From his side, Alaa Youssef, Egypt’s Presidential Spokesperson, said that the finance minister has presented, during Sunday meeting the detailed financial plan of the new health insurance programme, set by the ministry of finance. The financial plan presented the various suggested financial mechanisms for the programme, which will be supervised by the public treasury. The plan also covers the budget of the health insurance programme, the amount of subscriptions of the beneficiaries, and the medical services that will be covered by the programme.
The health minister, clarified that the new health insurance programme will cover the family members of the subscribed beneficiary. He added that the ministry will financially supporting those who are financially unable to cover their medical expenses. According to Al Ahram newspaper, 54 million citizens will benefit from the new health insurance programme; which equals almost 58% of the total Egyptian population. Egypt’s presidential spokesperson had also noted that the implementation of the new health insurance programme will be applied according to a prolonged timetable, directly after the approval of the parliament. From his side the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, has given his orders to form a new committee that its main responsibility will be evaluating the work flow of the new health insurance programme; noting that the new health insurance programme is considered the first real step towards bettering the health system in Egypt. Related to this matter, Dr. Mohamed Fatine MD., MSC, M.B.B.CH, Lecturer of Clinical Pathology, Cairo University, told MEO that the new health insurance programme is a positive step towards a better health system in Egypt. He aspires that the new programme will face the various challenges that the health system currently faces in Egypt, which is mainly the high prices of medical services that various social levels cannot really afford along with the unsatisfactory services provided.
