The Ministers of Planning and Health have agreed on a proposal to establish a Supreme Council of Health and Medicine ensuring a proper health system in Egypt, cabinet spokesperson Hossam El-Kawish said.
El-Kawish told Daily News Egypt, after the meeting attended by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and the Ministers of Planning and Health on Tuesday, that the proposal will be presented to the president for review and ratification.
The council’s strategy includes unveiling all the problems plaguing Egypt’s health system, and putting forward alternatives to overcome them. The strategy’s goals will follow a clear timetable, according to El-Kawish.
Minister of Health Adel El-Adawy said the Supreme Council of Health and Medicine will work in tandem with the public policy and national plans in the health field. He added that plans, projects, and programmes will be agreed upon between the concerned ministries, Faculties of Medicine and general bodies working in the health field. This will occur regardless of their representation on the council, with the plans to be studied, coordinated, and implemented carefully.
The government has greatly raised its health budget allocations this year, and the constitution provides for these allocations to increase gradually over the consecutive years.
El-Adawy said the council also aims to discuss and study ways to develop the authorities charged with providing health care. The council will also prepare and propose regulations and draft laws that ensure the achievement of this goal, and upgrade the overall performance of workers in the health field.
He added that the upcoming period will witness reconsideration of the legislation regulating work in the health sector. El-Adawy also said that the council’s main objective is maintaining citizens’ health, through the safety and quality of pharmaceuticals and other services provided by the ministry.
The council’s proposed organisational structure will consist of a Board of Trustees, headed by the Prime Minister, and the Board of Directors, chaired by the Minister of Health, according to El-Adawy. There will also be an Egyptian Board of Medical Specialties, headed by the Minister of Health, in addition to the Egyptian Council of Pharmacy and Medicine.
According to El-Adawy, the council’s specialties will include: putting in place technical regulations and standards for production, analysis, marketing, import, export, customs, distribution, trading, and storage processes. It will also develop ways to discharge expired products and public waste, which are identified in detail in the executive rule agreed with the Ministry of Environment.
He revealed the addition of new regulations related to distribution, trading, and exchange of medicines and narcotic drugs affecting the mental state. These regulations will be based on adding regulations on procedures of recording, analysis and pricing, and the development of procedures and controls that help existing bodies to face fraud and provide technical advice.
The total number of employees in the health sector amounts to about one million employees, between doctors, pharmacists, nurses, technicians, and paramedics, according to El-Adawy.
He emphasised that the Egyptian Board of Medical Specialties aims to achieve a quality system in the regulation and supervision of all health facilities. This will occur through the continuation of medical education and electronic education to all employees in the health field.
The council will be also in charge of controlling and following up on everything related to pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical at all stages of import, production, export, storage, distribution, and exchange. Moreover, it will also be responsible for setting technical regulations for reviewing and matching standard specifications.
El-Adawy added that the council’s executive rule will work to develop the necessary procedures and controls for the export of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products for all countries of the world. It will also adapt procedures and measures to cope with emergencies and drug shortages to work on providing them in sufficient quantities for domestic consumption.
