A high-level meeting was held last week with a senior Turkish delegation to review the latest developments in the project known as the Capital Medical City for Hospitals and Educational Institutes for Research and Training.
The talks, held at the Ministry of Health and Population in the New Capital, stressed that President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi is directly backing the project as it marks a qualitative leap in advanced medical care, multi-disciplinary scientific research, and high-level medical training, positioning it as a distinguished regional hub and a top priority for developing the healthcare system.
The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar.
The minister highlighted major progress in Egyptian-Turkish health cooperation, noting that both countries are working to establish a regional benchmark for health security through knowledge exchange and by leveraging Turkey’s extensive experience in managing large medical cities and public-private partnership models.
“The medical city represents a qualitative move towards advanced medical care, multi-disciplinary scientific research, and high-level medical training, positioning it as a distinguished regional centre and one of the ministry’s top priorities for developing the entire healthcare system,” Abdel-Ghaffar said.
According to Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar, the ministry’s spokesman, the project’s vision is based on improving the quality of therapeutic services and clinical and academic training; establishing a specialised research centre to carry out research projects; meeting the growing demand for healthcare services in line with the national health strategy; and boosting health investment by developing medical tourism in Egypt.
According to the spokesman, the medical city will be built in Ain Al-Sokhna on 230 feddans for $1.5 billion and will open to the public in three years. Construction will depend primarily on finalising financing issues, he said. The city will provide more than 4,000 beds, including 809 allocated for intensive care, 348 for medium care units and 2,600 for in-patients. This is in addition to 225 operating theatres, 120 emergency beds, and 190 beds for neonatal intensive care.
The figures reflect the largest specialised medical complex in a single location. The specialties offered include 18 national institutes, among them institutes of cardiology, oncology, organ transplantation, gastroenterology and hepatology, nephrology and urology, non-communicable diseases, and the control of disease vectors, whether insect or animal. All subspecialties are under one roof, explained spokesman Abdel-Ghaffar, while adding that a fully integrated emergency and critical care centre will have an emergency reception unit, emergency operating theatres, emergency catheterisation, emergency intensive care units, a stroke unit and a burns centre.
He noted that the medical city will provide many direct job opportunities for all those working in the health sector, as well as indirect jobs for those who work in its construction. The city will be included in the country’s comprehensive health insurance system. Its operation will include state-funded treatment, and later through the Universal Health Insurance system once the governorate joins the scheme, he added.
Amr Kandil, the deputy minister of health and population for preventive medicine, public health, and primary health care, said global trends are moving towards establishing major medical complexes to achieve greater efficiency in operations and better use of resources. The medical city, according to Kandil, will include one large, comprehensive laboratory equipped with advanced medical capabilities to serve all 18 institutes without the need to duplicate laboratories. The lab will carry out tests such as PCR and genetic analyses and will also include a stem cell bank, in addition to a biosafety level-3 laboratory designed to safely handle pathogens that can cause serious or potentially lethal diseases through inhalation, incorporating stringent safety protocols and specialised facility design.
A fully integrated clinical research centre will also be established, including artificial intelligence laboratories, a conference and training centre with a simulation lab, a virtual hospital and practical facilities for training in advanced surgeries as well as various radiology centres. “This is a global strategic shift in the philosophy and concept of medical care, aimed at providing comprehensive, integrated health services for Egyptians and non-Egyptians alike in a single location,” Kandil said.
Kandil added he believed the medical city would raise the level of quality and efficiency, and at the same time improve a working environment to attract Egyptian professionals who have travelled abroad. This is in addition to bringing in foreign experts to work in the medical city which in its turn improves the quality of medical services.
It also allows the city to be used as an investment in medical tourism by providing high-quality health services and accommodation for visitors from abroad. A 300-bed hotel will also be built. “The patient will receive all health services, whether surgical, diagnostic, interventional, or post-operative rehabilitation in one place which significantly enhances the overall quality and efficiency of care,” Kandil said, adding that the city will also include a university specialised in healthcare professions.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 12 February, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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