Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has urged Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Health Minister Hala Zayed to develop the health sector by implementing the new health insurance system, Al-Ahram reported. In a ministerial meeting on Thursday, El-Sisi stressed that the new health insurance system will provide improved quality medical services to citizens. The president also said that the new system will address the challenges facing the sector. El-Sisi also asked Zayed and Madbouly to finalise patient waiting lists in all public health sector hospitals in Egypt. He also asked for medical checks to be conducted on all Egyptians to detected hepatitis C. The president also requested the continuation of work on providing decent health care in various governorates within the framework of the national project for model hospitals. He also added 18 university hospitals to the project, which will allow patients in those areas to receive treatment without having to travel to other governorates. Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said the meeting dealt with efforts to modernise and develop the health sector, the comprehensive health insurance, efforts to eliminate patient waiting lists, and the national project for model hospitals. The official spokesman added that the minister of health confirmed during the meeting that the ministry aims in the coming period to reform the health system with the participation of various stakeholders. Rady said that the health minister had reviewed the developments of the implementation of the national project for model hospitals, saying that 29 hospitals had been selected to become model hospitals. The hospitals will offer the highest levels of medical service to citizens without any additional financial burdens, and will include all specialties such as open heart surgery, bone marrow transplantation, kidney and liver specialities, neurology, and micro-surgery. Zayed said that one of the most important objectives is to reduce population growth rates through an integrated package of legislative and incentive measures that will contribute to improving the quality of life of citizens and their sense of economic development. She said that the first phase of the project will start with the rehabilitation of hospitals and health facilities that will provide the service in terms of providing medical equipment, infrastructure, mechanisation and training. The first phase of the project will start in Port Said governorate, followed by Suez, Ismailia, South Sinai and North Sinai successively.
