File Photo: A medical worker gives a polio vaccine to a child. Photo courtesy of Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population
According to a Monday cabinet statement, the report, presented by Health and Population Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, also indicated that 3,262 patients were referred for pharmaceutical treatment during the same period and 5,443 procedures were conducted under the General Authority for Health Insurance. In addition, 86,609 uninsured patients received medication.
Launched in July 2018, the initiative aims to eliminate surgical backlogs and prevent the accumulation of new waiting lists across public hospitals and affiliated healthcare facilities nationwide.
Madbouly reaffirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening healthcare and ensuring the availability of medical services across all governorates. He noted that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi recently allocated EGP 3 billion to accelerate the clearance of waiting lists for critical cases as part of a new social protection package targeting low-income and vulnerable groups.
The interventions during the one-month reporting period included ophthalmic surgeries, cardiac catheterizations, open-heart procedures, orthopedic and neurosurgical operations, oncology surgeries, cochlear implants, liver and kidney transplants, and peripheral and cerebral catheterizations.
Since its launch, the initiative has benefited more than three million patients. Services are delivered through hospitals affiliated with the ministries of health and higher education, facilities run by the armed forces and police, civil society organizations, private hospitals, and the General Authority for Healthcare.
The surgical waiting list drive forms part of a broader series of nationwide health initiatives launched since 2018, aimed at expanding preventive care, early diagnosis, and treatment access.
The largest of these, the “100 Million Health” campaign, screened over 60 million Egyptians for hepatitis C and non-communicable diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Egypt was later recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the first country to achieve “gold tier” status for eliminating hepatitis C as a public health threat.
Other initiatives include the Women’s Health Initiative, which has screened more than 50 million women for breast cancer and reproductive health issues, the Neonatal Hearing Screening Initiative, and the Early Detection of Chronic Diseases Initiative for adults over 40.
The government has also expanded the Treatment at State Expense programme, funding tens of thousands of complex procedures annually for uninsured patients. These efforts operate alongside the gradual rollout of Egypt’s Universal Health Insurance System (UHIS), established in 2018, which aims to achieve full nationwide coverage by 2030.
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