Telecom Egypt – TE (ETEL.CA) and its internet arm TE Data the internet service Provider have launched an initiative in order to curb the spread of virus hepatitis 'C' and develop blood banks which affiliated with the health ministry with total cost up EGP 42 million in cooperation with Misr El Kheir Foundation. TE has signed the protocol yesterday 16/9/2013 with Misr El Kheir Foundation in the presence of Dr. Ali Gomaa, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt, the Chairman of the board of Trustees of Misr El Kheir ,Dr. Amr Kandil, Assistant Minister of Health and Chief of Preventive Medicine at the Ministry of Health Eng. Ahmed Osama the Executive Vice President for Commercial Affairs of TE and Dr. Salah Shadi CEO of the health sector in Misr El Kheir Foundation and was attended by a great number of public figures and journalists. Dr. Ali Gomaa expressed pleasure with the participation of TE Group in this pioneering initiative to curb this disease which is threatening the lives of millions of Egyptians in addition to contributing to the development and support of Egyptian blood banks. He added "our development projects are always touching the actual needs of Egyptians and we welcome such initiatives that address a challenge facing our society". He stated that he hopes this cooperation with TE Group helps stop the spread of this disease. Al-Nawawi Said that TE group as a national telecom leader was keen to adopt the initiative "Egypt free of virus C" and the development of blood banks in cooperation with Misr El Kheir. Such cooperation reflects a convergence of visions between the two reputable entities with a primary goal; to improve the lives of the Egyptian citizen and help him live a healthy life. Al-Nawawi added that the high rates of infection with Virus C in Egypt, which has reached the equivalence of about 12 million people and is considered as one of the highest global rates was the primary catalyst for TE group to adopt the initiative. He reiterated "we hope all companies, institutions, and individuals follow a similar route". From his side, Dr. Amr Kandil, Assistant Minister of Health and Chief of Preventive Medicine at the Ministry of Health praised the important role and constructive cooperation by civil society organizations with the corporate support and expressed appreciation for this initiative addressing a large segment of the society. He explained that the ministry is keen to facilitate all procedures and remove any obstacles to the success of such projects highlighting "that the ministry will follow up closely the project stages in the coming period". From his side, Dr. Salah Shady said that this initiative will be the start of a plan aimed to reduce the occurrence of the disease, its prevalence prevention and as he said "we will work hard in collaboration with the Ministry of Health across Egypt and the universities' hospitals to ultimately and completely disable new infections". He added that the most important causes of the disease are contaminated blood transfusion, non-sterile surgical intervention, dental treatment without sufficient sterilization, unsafe injection, syringe re-use, razor, midwife scissors. Dr Shady pointed out that the initiative will begin in four provinces in cooperation and under the supervision of the Ministry of Health ; Fayoum, Menya, Sohag and Qena as well as universities' hospitals in these provinces. He highlighted "we will work to develop the capacity of universities' hospitals, public, central and health units to provide safe medical and surgical services". Ahmed Osama said: The details of the initiative include two parts the first one, "Egypt is free of Virus C" which will develop the infrastructure of the Ministry of Health hospitals in addition to extensive training campaigns for workers in the health sector on the latest methods to prevent the spread of disease. Osama indicated that the initiative includes another part; is to develop blood banks affiliated to the Ministry of Health. He explained that a database of all blood banks affiliated with the ministry will be created and linked to each other via the Internet which TE Data will take over its development. He stated that the goal of this project is to facilitate the process of access to blood of all amounts and types across all branches in short time span.
