Egypt has begun preparations to launch the second phase of its Universal Health Insurance System.
The second phase will begin in the Minya governorate, with infrastructure and equipment investments estimated at EGP48bn ($927.5m). It will serve about 6.5m people, reported Amwal Alghad.
Egypt Healthcare Authority (EHA) Chairman Ahmed El-Sobky said this phase includes 26 hospitals and 290 primary healthcare facilities. Operations are initially expected to begin at 10 hospitals and 113 centres and units. He said that the EHA will conduct registration campaigns using digital tools to enrol citizens.
He said that lessons learned from the first phase were used to help simplify procedures and reduce waiting times, and that a unified operational manual has been developed for governorates that would be covered in later phases.
Port Said (pilot), Ismailia, Luxor, South Sinai, Suez, and AswanOther plans in the pipeline focus on expanding family medicine centres as the first point of care and improving resource allocation through a model tailored to population distribution. Furthermore, training programmes for medical and administrative staff are being expanded, with facilities being prepared ahead of the rollout to ensure operational readiness.
Egypt's first phase of the Universal Health Insurance System, initiated in 2018, covered six governorates: Port Said, Ismailia, Luxor, South Sinai, Suez and Aswan. Apart from Minya, the second phase covers Matrouh, Damietta, Kafr El-Sheikh and North Sinai.