Egypt’s Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, met on Monday with a delegation from “AstraZeneca Egypt”, a pharmaceutical company, to discuss how to cooperate and support the health sector in the future.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, said that the meeting reviewed the previous cooperation projects, especially the partnership between the ministry, AstraZeneca, Philips, and the London School, to conduct a research study on crisis and epidemic management.
He said that the minister learned about the planned partnership between the ministry and AstraZeneca in the area of liver cancer, as part of a major event that will take place in April, following Egypt’s success in eradicating Hepatitis C. He said that the partnership will also include adding a new treatment to the liver cancer protocol, without increasing the ministry’s budget.
The meeting also explored how to develop the local pharmaceutical industry in Egypt, especially cancer drugs, in a way that ensures quality and affordability, as part of Egypt’s vision to become a regional hub for medicine production and export to all African countries.
He said that the minister discussed with AstraZeneca how to introduce modern technology to the health system, and instructed the selection of four ministry-affiliated hospitals to implement artificial intelligence tools in all fields and analyze their data for research and reporting purposes, to improve the health system.
The minister also ordered the expansion of clinical trials, and the conduct of comparative studies with similar countries, to enhance scientific investment opportunities.
