Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of University Hospitals, said that it is intended to complete the equipping of 7 new hospitals and open them before the end of this year, at a cost of more than 3 billion Egyptian pounds.
In an exclusive statement to “Amwal Al-Ghad” news on the sidelines of signing the cooperation protocol with AstraZeneca, he said that these hospitals are being launched in “Assiut, Sohag, Minya, Aswan, Zagazig and Tanta.”
Abdul Ghaffar added that this comes within the state’s plan to expand the health sector and provide healthcare facilities, especially under the president’s directives to have a medical college in each governorate, with linking it to state-affiliated hospitals.
The past 7 years witnessed the establishment of 27 new university hospitals at a cost of 16 billion Egyptian pounds, as the number of university hospitals in 2014 was about 88 hospitals, while it reached 155 hospitals in 2021.
The number of beds in 2014 reached about 28,958 thousand beds, while it reached 35,825 thousand beds in 2021, an increase of (6867) beds, and it represents about 30% of the beds from the government healthcare capacity in Egypt.
Regarding the cooperation with AstraZeneca, he explained that the “ONCOLYMPICS” protocol will contribute effectively to the development of the health system in Egypt by qualifying doctors, especially in the field of oncology, as it comes to support continuing medical education in an innovative way for oncologists in university hospitals.
AstraZeneca is committed to preparing a competitive scientific program among the oncology departments of about 12 university hospitals, where oncologists study everything new in the areas of diagnosis and treatment of tumors of the breast, prostate, ovary, pancreas and lung.
Abdel Ghaffar said that university hospitals treat 53% of oncology patients in Egypt, so the importance of the training program is to be organized 4 times annually for a period of 3 months, with the participation of about 60 oncologists in one session, which means that within 3 years, the efficiency of more than About 700 oncologists represents a large percentage of the number of oncologists in Egypt.
The protocol includes inviting members of the team of oncologists who won first place in the “ONCOLYMPICS” scientific program competition, either to attend an international or regional medical conference sponsored by AstraZeneca or to attend a period of attendance in one of the international oncology centers, in order to see the latest technology of diagnosis and treatment, provided that they transfer their experiences to their colleagues which benefits the Egyptian patient
