State-funded medical treatment for the poor is a priority for the government, said Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali on Tuesday. Boutros-Ghali said that his ministry has allocated LE4.3 billion for the program this year. "We are auditing the debts of the program which must be paid to the health ministry for it to be able to continue implementing the program," he explained. "We will allocate more funds for major expensive surgeries without limit." Members of the auditing committee said they have detected some violations in the program, where rich patients who could afford to pay for their medical care have been treated. The committee also discovered that some hospitals had billed the program for more than the cost of the actual services they provided to patients. Regarding funds allocated for dealing with the H1N1 virus (known as swine flu), Boutros-Ghali said the ministry had allocated LE152 million for importing the vaccine. According to Boutros-Ghali, 60 percent of the amount has already been paid. "We are now negotiating the termination of our contract with the pharmaceutical company that produces the vaccine," he said. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
