Cairo: Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, held a meeting with Major General Doctor Baha Eddin Zidan, the head of the Egyptian Unified Procurement Authority and Medical Supply and Technology Management, to discuss cooperation and joint work plans to secure the medical needs of the health sector.
According to State Information Service Egypt, Dr Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population, explained that the meeting included a detailed presentation of the results of the joint coordination between the Ministry of Health and Population and the Unified Procurement Authority. This coordination involved aligning with e-governance, establishing a purchasing mechanism for emergency situations, developing medical devices without decommissioning them, as well as enhancing the strategic stockpile of medical devices and increasing medical assets in line with growing needs.
Abdel Ghaffar added that the Deputy Prime Minister confirmed that this coordination has positively reflected on meeting the ministry’s needs, which has been realised on the ground, as evidenced by field visits to medical facilities. He affirmed that the health sector is currently witnessing a significant improvement in the provision of medicines, supplies, and medical devices.
Abdel Ghaffar noted that the Deputy Prime Minister was briefed on the implementation of the Ministry of Health’s plans in cooperation with the Unified Procurement Authority to provide the necessary medical devices for the ministry’s facilities. This included the provision of 17 MRI machines, 19 cardiac catheters, 12 radiation therapy devices, 162 CT scan machines, 2800 ventilators, 430 anaesthesia machines, 376 upgraded anaesthesia machines, 5000 vital signs monitoring devices, 18 central oxygen generators, 600 incubators, and 500 dental clinics, indicating that the ministry has worked on implementing plans to procure medical devices at a cost of 20.36 billion Egyptian pounds over the past four years.
Abdel Ghaffar added that both parties discussed the results of the maintenance and development system for medical devices over the past four years, ensuring the sustainability of these devices and achieving savings compared to the purchase prices of new devices. The presentation indicated that 313 diverse medical devices were developed, achieving savings of more than 220 million Egyptian pounds, and 1215 repair requests for devices not covered by maintenance contracts were executed, totalling 442 million Egyptian pounds, with savings of 76.6 million Egyptian pounds.
In this regard, Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar directed the therapeutic medicine sector at the ministry to conduct a comprehensive inventory of malfunctioning devices in medical facilities and incorporate them into the maintenance system. The minister also emphasised the need to update medical devices in physiotherapy departments within health units and some hospitals to keep up with the latest systems in this field.
For his part, Major General Doctor Baha Eddin Zidan affirmed the commitment of the Egyptian Unified Procurement Authority to meet the needs of the health sector according to clear and common strategies, highlighting the importance of ongoing coordination between the two sides to secure the needs for medicines, devices, supplies, and medical consumables, and to enhance readiness to address any challenges or urgent needs.
The meeting was attended by Dr Anwar Ismail, Assistant Minister of Health and Population for National Health Projects, Dr Mohamed Abdel Wahab, the Permanent Undersecretary of the Minister of Health, Dr Peter Waji, Head of the Therapeutic Medicine Sector at the Ministry of Health, and Dr Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, Assistant Minister of Health for General Secretariat Affairs, along with Colonel Mohamed Abdel Qawy and Captain Mohamed El Sayed from the Unified Procurement Authority.