CAIRO – By the last week of this month, a project will have been launched to invite doctors at hospitals in France, the UK and Germany to treat patients in Egypt, who want to travel abroad for their treatment. This project was announced at a meeting of Minister of Health Dr Amr Helmi with senior medical officials from the three previous countries. The meeting was also attended by Dr Abdel-Hamid Abaza, an assistant health minister and head of the General Organisation of Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (GOTHI). The Minister noted that the project will help cut the costs for patients travelling abroad for treatment, while Dr Abaza explained that GOTHI ran a similar project from 2002 to 2006, with emphasis on fighting infection and rationalising the use of medicines and antibiotics. Dr Helmi stressed that this project will save hard currency and allow a greater number of poor patients to receive treatment. Meanwhile, Dr Abaza noted that Egyptian hospitals have been treating 34 people, who were injured in the violence in Libya. Dr Hisham Shiha, head of the preventive medical sector at the Ministry, said these patients are being treated in Dar el-Shefa, el-Sheikh Zayed and Shorouq hospitals.
