Minister of Health Hala Zayed announced on Wednesday that 215,190 citizens have received free medical examination and treatment through 161 medical convoys conducted nationwide in February. According to Zayed, these convoys are part of the presidential initiative “Decent Life”, which aims to provide free medical services to citizens in remote areas, especially those areas deprived of health services. Spokesperson of the Ministry of Health Khaled Mogahed said that 1,379 clinics have participated in these medical convoys, including various medical specialties. These specialties included; women and childbirth, family planning services, pediatrics, internal medicine, nose and ear, bones, surgery, ophthalmology, teeth, cardiology, and dermatology. The ministry has also provided radiology services, blood tests, and parasitological tests for 29,989 cases. Mogahed added that 3,458 cases were transferred to hospitals in order to receive surgical operations under the discretion the medical council for treatment, all at the state's expense. He noted further that the ministry has educated 42,629 people through health educational seminars that were held on the margins of medical convoys. Health seminars aimed to raise health the public's awareness on infectious diseases, seasonal diseases, endemic diseases, and hepatitis C. They were also educated about public hygiene, infection control methods, how to detect early breast tumors, the risk of indiscriminate drug use, reproductive health, and female circumcision. The seminars focused as well on raising diabetes awareness, discussing its complications, proper nutrition methods, anemia in children in rural communities, the benefits of breastfeeding, and the negative impacts of smoking.
