World Bank: Egyptians pay 72% of health care costs

Egyptians pay 72 per cent of their healthcare bills, a report by the World Bank has revealed, stressing that medical care in the country has seen a significant improvement over the past 20 years.

Alaa Hamed, a senior health specialist working for the World Bank for North Africa and Middle East region, said the report, entitled “A roadmap to achieve social justice in health care in Egypt”, seeks to develop recommendations to improve the health care system in Egypt in the short and medium terms with a special focus on the least fortunate groups in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for health systems and reach world standards in this field.

Hamed pointed out that the report reviewed Egypt’s objectives for 2030 which include achieving a gradual improvement in the Egyptian health care system the promotion of financial protection and improving the quality of health care in public facilities and among the most disadvantaged communities.