General Organization of the Health System Egypt has a highly pluralistic health care system, with many different public and private providers and financing agents.
Health services in Egypt are currently managed, financed, and provided by agencies in all three sectors of the economy—government, parastatal, and private.
The private sector includes for-profit and nonprofit organizations and covers everything from traditional midwives, private pharmacies, private doctors, and private hospitals of all sizes.
In Service Delivery Structure MOHP is currently the major provider of primary, preventive, and curative care in Egypt, with around 5,000 health facilities and more than 80,000 beds spread nationwide. Specifically, with respect to inpatient services, the MOHP is the largest institutional provider of inpatient health care services in Egypt. It has about 1,048 inpatient facilities, accounting for more than 80,000 beds while private sector has 2,024 inpatient facilities, with a total of about 22,647 beds. This accounts for approximately 16 percent of the total inpatient bed capacity in Egypt.
Particular attention has been paid to improving the quality of delivery care as well as to encouraging appropriate care-seeking behavior. Egyptian Health Reform Strategy articulated as long-term goal toward achievement of universal coverage of basic health services for all Egyptian citizens. It has also stated the importance of targeting the most vulnerable population groups as its priority. Major components of the strategy include
- Expanding the social health insurance coverage from 47 percent (in 2003) of the population to universal coverage based on the “family” as the basic unit. An affordable and cost-effective package of basic health services based on the priority health needs of the population will be provided.
- Reorganizing services so that they are provided through a holistic family health approach. Provision of the basic package will be based on competition and choice among the different public and private service providers, under a single Public and Health Insurance Fund (PHIF) using incentive-based and other provider payment mechanisms.
- Strengthening management systems and developing a regulatory framework and institutional relationships to ensure quality of care and to support the reform of the health sector.
- Developing the domestic pharmaceutical industry and reducing government involvement in the production of pharmaceuticals while strengthening its role as a financier.
Many other organizations have their own hospitals, The most important is the Ministry of Interior, which operates health facilities for police and the prison population; the Transport Ministry, which operates at least two hospitals for railway employees; the Ministry of Agriculture; the Ministry of Religious Affairs; and the Defense Ministry, which is responsible for health facilities run by the Armed Forces.
Egypt has 14 medical schools (Faculties of Medicine), affiliated with the major universities and 36 university hospitals. University hospitals are regarded as secondary and tertiary care facilities and tend to be much more advanced in terms of technology and medical expertise in comparison with MOHP facilities.
Most of these facilities provide their medical services for Egyptians and residents in addition to foreigners seeking medical attention in Egypt specially from African countries