Health insurance clinics are proposed inside three Red Sea public hospitals

The Red Sea branch of Egypt's General Authority for Health Insurance and the governorate's Health Affairs Directorate have agreed on a proposal to open health insurance clinics inside Hurghada General Hospital, the fever hospital and Safaga Hospital. No start date or timetable was given.

The proposal also covers space for pharmacies inside the hospitals and the opening of customer-service offices there. Its stated purpose is to make it easier for people insured under the public scheme to be seen across different specialties, and to reduce the procedural steps involved in medical referrals.

The proposal came from Dr Tamer Madkour, chairman of the General Authority for Health Insurance, and was presented at the meeting by Dr Romani Wahid Morqos, the authority's director-general in the Red Sea. Dr Ismail El-Arabi, the health ministry's undersecretary in the governorate, approved it.

El-Arabi also said he was ready to make specialists and consultants available to work after official hours, which he said would help run evening clinics and widen the services available.

The meeting, held at the directorate's headquarters, also reviewed the existing contracts between the health insurance authority and the directorate's hospitals and health facilities, and the obstacles to delivering services under them.