Egypt’s health ministry has drawn up a new policy to reduce the number of patients, seeking state-financed medical treatment, going abroad, said a high-ranking ministry official.
Sayed Noureddin was quoted by the Egyptian Gazette newspaper as saying that foreign surgeons and consultants are now being invited to examine Egyptian patients in the country.
In an outburst of enthusiasm for the new policy, the ministry's director-general explained: "The purpose of the policy is basically to save patients and their families the inconvenience and cost of travelling abroad for treatment."
The invited foreign consultants will be obliged during their stay here to examine and treat a large number of patients, the paper quoted him as saying. "This means that the high-quality medical service being offered will not benefit just one patient, as is the case with a person being sent abroad," the general-director added.
He also stressed that the new strategy is the best way of encouraging interaction between well-known foreign consultants and surgeons on the one hand and Egyptian doctors on the other.
Noureddin firmly defended the integrity and transparency of the medical council, which is the gate to state-financed medical treatment at home or abroad.
"As far as medical treatment is concerned, the minister of health last year assigned a high-level committee to investigate requests and independently give its final decision."
According to the director-general, the committee comprises prominent medical professors along with representatives from the ministry.
Because the minister of health is not entitled to intervene in the committee's affairs, the paper said that Noureddin rejected suggestions that only certain patients, for example the wealthy and prominent officials, get the committee's approval for State-financed medical treatment abroad.
The committee has been the target of growing rumors that belly-dancers and superstars, who often spend their weekends working overseas, are apparently permitted to receive state-financed medical treatment or check-ups in the countries they perform in, even it is only for something minor.
At the same time, the paper said there are reports of cases that poor patients needing immediate treatment in clinics abroad bring mishandled or turned down altogether.
But Noureddin insisted that these stories are untrue. "We do not discriminate between this or that person. The final decision is based on the diagnoses of the committee's highly professional members." – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
