A high-profile plan to improve health insurance coverage for the poor is announced. Reem Leila reports There has been ample evidence, of late, that the public health insurance sector is in need of major reform. For one thing, only 52 per cent of the population actually benefits from healthcare and health insurance. Top officials from the ruling National Democratic Party met to discuss the possibility of expanding that coverage; their ideas are indeed ambitious -- a new health insurance system that will provide universal coverage for all Egyptians by the year 2010. Attending the high-level meeting were Health and Population Minister Hatem El-Gabali, Gamal Mubarak -- the party's assistant secretary-general -- and Hamdi El-Sayed, who heads both the Doctors' Syndicate and parliament's Health Committee. Also in attendance were Madiha Khattab, dean of Cairo University's Faculty of Medicine, and Galal El-Zorba, head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI). According to El-Sayed, access to global communications and commerce is raising local expectations of better healthcare. Accordingly, the plan -- developed by El-Gabali -- aims to cover the entire population with a basic package of priority health services, in addition to other two packages for medical treatment and surgery abroad. The basic package would include examination, diagnosis and treatment, all free of charge. The primary difference, El-Gabali said, would be that healthcare services would be provided on need, rather than the ability to pay. "All regions and citizens of all income brackets will have equal rights in the new health insurance system," the minister said. He also promised that the new system would utilise top of the line healthcare facilities, supplies, drugs and medical staff. In Gamal Mubarak's view, separating the public healthcare system's administration from its sources of funding was key to helping ensure that the service meets international standards. Another goal was giving citizens covered by the plan the freedom to choose which hospital to go to. "This will increase competition among the private, public and military hospitals," Mubarak said. Responding to El-Sayed's suggestion that there should also be a plan to enhance both the working and living conditions of nurses in hospitals and primary healthcare facilities, El-Gabali said, "salaries, incentives and benefits for medical staff have been greatly improved." Along with all the problems, there have also been significant attempts by the ministry over the past six years to improve healthcare via the Family Health Fund. Some 450 health units were set up in rural areas, 176 advanced emergency units were created on highways, in addition to 221 emergency stations positioned every 30km. Meanwhile, life expectancy rates have increased among males and females by 54 per cent, while infant mortality has drastically decreased from 62 to 22 infants in every 1,000. Moreover, the rate of infection of endemic diseases in Egypt has largely dropped in the past years. At the same time, however, rapid population growth has meant that the public healthcare system has found it increasingly difficult to keep up with demand. That will only prove tougher in the long term, with Egypt's population expected to increase by 50 per cent by 2020. Some of the most common ailments that need to be better addressed by the new system, El-Gabali noted, are problems related to heart disease, diabetes, tumours, kidney and liver failure.
