The Ministry of Health denied Wednesday that it had cancelled the free healthcare system, pointing out that it only initiated new procedures to guarantee the healthcare subsidy will reach those who deserve it. "Only new restrictions were issued for free healthcare system. However, it's still there," said Mohamed Abdin, the head of the Specialised Medical Councils, whose department is responsible for the system. He added that Minister of Health Dr. Hatem el-Gabali had issued Decree No. 200/2010 that restructures the free healthcare system just to "help ease things and ensure the needy are our target". Lawmakers had called on Dr. el-Gabali to resign on Tuesday accusing him of abolishing the system and barring them from obtaining healthcare orders. "The bids to cancel the fully subsidised healthcare will be failed. This is an attempt to kill the poor," shouted the MPs. They urged the chairman of the health committee at the People's Assembly Dr Hamdi el-Sayed to intervene with the Specialised Medical Councils and the Ministry of Health to speed up the free healthcare orders. "We had an agreement with the ministry that a new office will be set up in Parliament to help the lawmakers in shortening the period," Dr el-Sayed said. Speaker of the People's Assembly (the Lower House of Egypt's Parliament) Ahmed Fathi Sorour had ordered the referral of the file of State-funded healthcare decrees to the Minister of Interior because of what he called "a fishy smell". It had been earlier discovered that 40 lawmakers had obtained orders totalling LE2 billion in less than three years. Around 35 million of the country's 80 million people are covered by the State health insurance system, according to the Health Ministry, and most of the rest are supposed to get free healthcare. Those seeking free treatment must make their case at a Health Ministry office and, if successful, receive an official letter authorising public hospitals to treat them for free. The hospitals then reclaim payment from the ministry. Last year, the Government gave free treatment to 2.2 million poor Egyptians, including patients with kidney failure, cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure, according to Abdin.
