Cairo:Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar has unveiled a comprehensive package of targets aimed at upgrading Egypt's healthcare sector, as announced by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. The plan focuses on investments in healthcare providers and measures to ensure patients receive timely treatment across the country.

According to State Information Service Egypt, the package includes a significant 50% increase in performance-based incentives for medical sector workers by the end of the 2029/2030 fiscal year. The implementation will be gradual to ensure sustainability in the state budget. Additionally, there will be a 25% increase in on-call allowances and a 50% rise in compensation provided by the Medical Professions Risk Fund.

The plan also prioritizes eliminating waiting lists for critical cases through increased funding. Government hospitals and facilities operated by the General Authority for Healthcare, as well as those affiliated with the Health Insurance Organization, will benefit from these additional allocations. Furthermore, the plan proposes adding 1,000 fully equipped ambulances to enhance emergency response services.

A new presidential initiative is set to launch for the early detection of childhood cancer across all governorates. This initiative, costing approximately 1 billion pounds, will begin in January 2027 and focus initially on six major types of cancer. The initiative will target children and adolescents from birth to 18 years of age, aiming to reduce diagnostic times by at least 20%.

The targets also include expanding bed capacity at existing university hospitals and the opening of new public and private university hospitals in 2027. Complementary efforts involve bringing 14 new hospitals into service within a year, primarily in Upper Egypt and border governorates, alongside accelerating the second phase of the Universal Health Insurance System.

The Ministry of Health and Population plans to release implementation details and progress indicators for each phase, enabling citizens to monitor the impact of these measures.