(AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)
The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) recently said that the number of Egyptians receiving medical treatment both at home and abroad, paid for at the expense of the government, increased 19.2% throughout 2012 reaching 1.4 million patients, compared to 1.2 million in 2011. The total amount paid by the government for medical treatment also increased in 2012, totalling EGP 2.6bn, compared to EGP 2.1bn during 2011, representing a 27.3% increase.
CAPMAS said in a statement released on Monday that the number of Egyptians receiving government-funded medical treatment outside the country, decreased from 46 in 2011 to 42 in 2012, representing an 8.7% decrease. The cost of such treatment also decreased 13.6%, from EGP 4m in 2011 to EGP 3.4m in 2012.
The number of patient escorts travelling outside Egypt decreased to 23 in 2012, at a total cost to the state of EGP 15,800, compared to 35 patient escorts in 2011, at a cost of EGP 17,000.
Germany hosted the largest number of patients, with a total of eight, whose cost of treatment totalled EGP 761,000, with Switzerland receiving the fewest number of Egyptian expatriates seeking treatment, receiving only one patient.
Meanwhile, the number of Egyptians receiving treatment inside the country increased from 1.2 million in 2011 to 1.4 million in 2012, representing a 19.2% increase. The cost of such treatment was estimated at EGP 2.6bn compared to EGP 2.1bn in 2011, representing a 27.4% increase.
General practitioners were responsible for treating the largest number of Egyptian citizens living inside the country, representing 46.7% of all cases, at a total cost to the state of EGP 1.2bn, followed by oncologists who treated 18.6% of total cases, at an estimated cost to the state of EGP 488.6m.
