The National Cardiology Centre will open next week after the first round of renovations, which took six weeks, Health Ministry spokesperson Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar told Daily News Egypt.
Located in Imbabah, the Armed Forces Engineering Authority gave the centre a facelift, with other renovations also made. These included creating a new database for patients, planning surrounding residential areas for the centre, and increasing the centre’s budget for medical treatment.
Dr Hany Nasr, the centre’s director, reportedly announced another round of renovations planned to take place, after developing the centre’s working system.
During his visit to the Health Ministry headquarters in Downtown Cairo, Prime Minister Ibrahim Melheb said: “There are still lots of efforts that need to be exerted from health officials across different provinces, and the cardiology centre is a success model that should be replicated in all Egypt.”
He added that each official should start elevating healthcare in the largest hospital of their province in two months at most, and replicate this model to other hospital and medical centres.
Mehled visited the Imbabah cardiology centre in June in an alleged inspection of its conditions. During the visit, he decided to switch the health minister’s office to the centre for one week and make it rotational for other medical centres and hospitals in Egypt. A couple of days later the cabinet announced the Armed Forces Engineering Authority’s responsibility for the centre’s renovations.
The cardiology centre is one among hundreds of badly deteriorated health facilities in Egypt. Only 33 beds are available for every 10,000 citizens in Cairo’s hospitals, according to a factsheet issued by the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) in June.
