Held under the patronage of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the two-day conference takes place over a total of nine sessions.
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, Higher Education Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, presidential adviser for health affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din, governors, and representatives of pharmaceutical companies are taking part in the event.
The conference is being held under the chairmanship of Mahmoud El-Metini, the president of Ain Shams University, and the honourary presidency of Ashraf Hatem, the chairman of the parliamentary Health Committee.
“The second edition sheds light on ways to meet the challenges and risks that the pharmaceutical industry faces and to discuss ways to improve it. It also tackles ways to develop scientific research and ensure the success of the process of the transfer of technology and localising industry,” El-Metini said.
Providing safe and effective medicines to ensure better health conditions for Egyptians is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and in line with Egypt’s Vision 2030, he added.
“Drug manufacturing is a national security matter and is crucial for advancing the Egyptian economy,” El-Metini continued, “especially amid the unprecedented global challenges the coronavirus has imposed.”
Egypt is a promising market for manufacturing new drugs for several reasons, including the country’s solid infrastructure. There are 159 licensed drug factories, and 80 plants are being built. In the first half of 2021 Egypt sold drugs for EGP 40 billion, with a growth rate of seven percent, and exported medicines for over $250 million, El-Metini stated.
He added that Egypt’s faculties of pharmacy are rated in the top five spots in Africa.
Egypt is also replete with research centres that seek to share the international scientific community in creating new drugs.
Participants in the conference are also shedding light on the universal health insurance system as well as the future of pharmaceutical exports and the digitisation of the healthcare sector to support Egypt as a regional centre for the pharmaceutical industry.
Al-Ahram Establishment, in its 145-year history, has been keen to support the state’s efforts in upgrading services provided to the Egyptian citizens, especially in healthcare and medicine, board chairman of Al-Ahram Abdel-Mohsen Salama.
Speakers at the conference include Tamer Essam, the president of the Egyptian Medicines Authority, Major General Bahaa Zeidan, the president of the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement, Ashraf Ismail, the president of the General Authority for Accreditation and Health Control, and Hossam Sadek, the executive director of the Universal Health Insurance.
The event is also seeing the participation of Amr Mamdouh, the president of the Egyptian Medicine City, representatives of various concerned institutions in Egypt and local drug companies, chairmen of the boards of directors of foreign drug companies operating in Egypt, and representatives of the Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry and Commerce.
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