Egypt's Minsitry of Health has added 5 billion EGP (U.S. $850,000) to its budget for the new fiscal year. Of that, four billion will be used to provide treatment at the expense of the state and the other billion will provide free treatment, said Dr. Ashraf Hatem, Minister of Health. Hatem said that with the addition mentioned above, the Ministry's budget for the new fiscal year is higher than it has been in decades. Hatem said that the treatment at the expense of the state will include many diseases which were excluded before. He said his ministry will participate with the Ministry of Finance to form a committee to reform the structure of salaries of the employees in the medical sector to cope with their position and the current conditions. In related news, the higher consulting committee confirmed the safety of Egyptian medicine provided in governmental hospitals. The committee stressing that medicine is subject to the ministry's supervision to ensure its safety and effectiveness. It is important to note that doctors and employees of governmental hospitals recently organized a strike to protest against the ministry's policies. They demanded an increase in the budget of the ministry, restructuring the salaries, and removal of the current minister of health and corrupt members from the ministry.
