President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has ordered the monthly bonus given to doctors to be increased to EGP 2,200 a month, said Minister of Finance Mohamed Moait. The presidential mandate will see the bonus rise from the previous EGP 400 and EGP 700 range that doctors were receiving.
The rise applies to doctors with university hospitals under the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, as well Al-Azhar University’s hospitals, starting with those who graduated from medical school in December 2019.
Moait added that the bonus value will be raised to EGP 2,200 a month for as many as 12,000 doctors at a total cost of EGP 316m annually. He added that EGP 100m has already been given to the Supreme Council of University Hospitals to finance the increase.
Moait said there has been an estimated 75% increase in medical profession allowances for doctors and nursing agencies. The previous allowances for doctors and nurses had ranged from between EGP 400 to EGP 1,225, at a total cost of EGP 2.25 bn. The minister added that professors at university hospitals will benefit from this allowance, in addition to establishing a risk fund for medical professionals.
He said that, on the back of directives from President Al-Sisi, FY2020/2021 will see a new financial package aiming to improve conditions for state employees, including healthcare sector workers. This will include allocating a monthly 7% bonus on basic civil servant salaries, and a bonus of 12% on the basic salary for those not subject to the law, including doctors.
Moait added that an extra EGP 150 to EGP 375 bonus will be given to all workers and employees in monthly sums, with healthcare sector workers also benefitting from the rising tax exemptions that range from EGP 8,000 up to EGP 15,000. This comes in addition to the personal exemption limit of EGP 7,000. In other words, a salary of EGP 24,000 that reaches EGP 22,000 after excluding insurance sums will be entirely exempted from taxes, Moait added. He said that EGP 1.5bn has been allocated in the FY2020/2021 draft budget to finance state employee promotions.
