Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Wednesday that the government is preparing to commence with the next step in implementing the pilot phase of the state's comprehensive healthcare system, which will take place in Luxor governorate soon, the cabinet said in a statement.

Madbouly made the remarks during a meeting with Health Minister Hala Zayed and Communications Minister Amr Taalat, which was held to follow up on the implementation of the initial stage of rolling out the comprehensive healthcare system.

Egypt started implementing the first phase in July 2019 in the governorate of Port Said. The first phase is also set to cover the governorates of Luxor, Ismailia, Aswan, Suez and South Sinai respectively.

The new system is scheduled to be rolled out in six phases. 

Egypt’s older health insurance system, which dates to the 1960s, has been criticised as substandard, and the new system aims to overcome the shortcomings of the old one, according to officials.

Concerning the implementation of the new system in Luxor, Zayed said that the ministry aims to take advantage of the experience gained with the implementation of the system in Port Said, according to the cabinet statement.

"Due to the experiences we have gained during the last period, the system will be better implemented in Luxor governorate," the health minister said.

The cabinet statement quoted Ahmed El-Sobky, chairman of the board of the General Authority for Healthcare, as saying that about 2 million medical services have been provided to citizens under the new healthcare system in Post Said governorate since its launch in 2019, adding that more than 602,000 citizens have registered in the system in the governorate.

Under the new system, citizens should register with family medical units in the governorate and conduct a medical examination. The patients will be admitted to hospital after referrals from family medical units. However, emergencies cases will be admitted at hospitals without referrals.

With regard to the registration process in Luxor governorate, El-Sobky said that the number of family files that have been registered has reached more than 191,000.