Even though the talk about comprehensive health insurance started in 2008, Minister Ahmed Emad El-Din is the one finally making the dream come true.
Ahmed Emad El-Din Rady took office and became the minister of health in September 2015, succeeding Khaled Al-Adawi. He started his journey by making some of the most difficult decisions.
He managed to keep his position despite many ministerial reshuffles. He was the one to make the decision to increase the prices of medications two times, which was an unprecedented decision that has not been made for decades, in order to save the Egyptian market from the issue of medication shortages over the past years. There was a shortage of nearly 1,200 kinds of medications in pharmacies, but he managed to take the number down to 134.
The issue of pharmaceuticals was not the most difficult one he undertook, as he also managed to continue the success of the project that the former minister started: fighting hepatitis C virus. The ministry managed to treat about 1.5 million citizens from the illness, at a cost of EGP 4bn. The illness is expected to be completely eliminated by 2020, according to the initiative launched by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
Emad El-Din also tackled the issue of comprehensive health insurance. After many years of negligence that Egyptians saw in terms of the quality of health services, the Egyptian Parliament finally approved a bill for comprehensive health insurance. It is expected to be implemented in Port Said in August. The minister of health plans to develop government hospitals and increase their efficiency, as the ministry spent about EGP 10bn on developing hospitals.
