Parliament speaker Hanafy El-Gebaly said all the articles of the new Egyptian Health Council were approved by MPs and that it will be up for a final vote in a later plenary session.
Speaker El-Gebaly said the House's next plenary sessions will be held on 20 February.
A report prepared by the House's Health and Environmental Affairs Committee said the draft law goes in line with Article 18 of Egypt's 2014 constitution, which states that "every citizen has the right to receive integrated healthcare in line with quality criteria, and the state shall do its best to preserve and support public utilities which provide the people with health services, and shall raise the efficiency of these utilities and ensure that they are spread everywhere in Egypt."
According to the report, Egypt has been moving by leaps and bounds to reform public health services in the form of presidential initiatives aiming to create a comprehensive health insurance system, improving the performance of medical education and raising the living standard of medical teams in Egypt.
The report said the new law on establishing the Egyptian Health Council comes as a new step towards raising the quality of health services and providing medical teams with high-quality training to cope with the latest developments in international health sectors. "In this context, the Egyptian Health Council will be created to replace the Egyptian Authority for Doctor Training, which was established by a government decree in 2016.”
Ashraf Hatem, chairman of the House's Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, said the new Egyptian Health Council will be responsible for raising the scientific and clinical capacities of new doctors and medical workers in the health sector.
"This will come through providing fresh graduates of the faculty of medicine with intensive training and improving health services," said Hatem, adding that "graduates of faculties of medicine and healthcare will be allowed to practice only after they pass the tests held by the Egyptian Health Council."
The draft law received overwhelming approval from the representatives of most political parties.
MP Soliman Wahdan, the parliamentary spokesperson for the liberal Wafd Party, said the fact that the proposed council will provide professional doctors and graduates of faculties of medicine with intensive training will help achieve a progressive step in the area of medical services in Egypt.
Makkram Radawn, a member of the majority party of Mostaqbal Watan and deputy chairman of the Health Committee, said the law will improve medical services offered by all kinds of hospitals in Egypt.
“We have hospitals affiliated with the government, the private sector, public universities, the Armed Forces, and the interior ministry, and all medical teams in these hospitals will receive training to raise the quality of services,” said Radwan, adding that “the creation of the Egyptian Health Council is also a necessary step for accelerating the implementation of Egypt's new Health Insurance System.”
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