Egypt will launch the sixth round of the Regional Forum for Medical Insurance and Healthcare on Sunday. The two-day event will tackle Egypt’s healthcare challenges amid the coronavirus crisis.

The forum is organised by the Insurance Federation of Egypt (IFE) under the patronage of Egypt’s Ministry of Health, Finance Ministry, and the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA).

The event will be attended by representatives from the public and private sector to discuss Egypt’s health insurance system and to help in setting a digitised plan for implementing the system that covers over 30 percent of Egypt’s population, said the IFE.

Vezeeta’s CEO and Co-founder Amir Barsoum, who will participate in the event as the forum’s diamond sponsor, said Egypt ranks third among the biggest economies in Africa and the fourth largest insurance market in the continent with total instalments of $2.1 billion.

This reflects the significant reforms Egypt has implemented in the sector and its commitment to advance it continuously, Barsoum said, disclosing that low-income households disburse 21 percent of their income on healthcare, 60 percent of which are out-of-pocket payments.

Barsoum asserted that Vezeeta's commitment to contribute to accelerating Egypt’s trajectory towards implementing an inclusive healthcare coverage is in line with Egypt’s strategic Vision 2030.

Head of the Egyptian Society for Healthcare Management Ihab Abul-Magd stated that the forum aims at integrating private and public sectors efforts to push forward Egypt’s healthcare digital transformation, especially in medical insurance.