Egypt : Complete Profile - What is GIS - World Health Organization

Health Systems Profile- Egypt Regional Health Systems Observatory- EMRO
Recently, PVOs have started to hire university consultants in their staffing patterns in
addition to the introduction of modern technology. This situation not only increases their
power and participation in the health care system, but also enhances the accessibility
and willingness of the population in utilizing their facilities. PVO health care mirrors the
private, for-profit sector in its preoccupation with curative health services. Rarely do
PVO health care providers offer health education, provide public information and
awareness campaigns, conduct health outreach to their patients or communities, or
promote preventive care. The PVO health sector is financially self-supporting through
user fees. Small PVO clinics however are generally losing more on current operations
and far more vulnerable to service disruption and failure. Overall, the PVO sector
receives only a very small share – just 1% – of health care spending in Egypt. The
sector's overall contribution to health care across Egypt is as yet marginal when
measured objectively against the share of health care spending that goes to private
physicians, pharmacies and government, public sector and university hospitals.
Referral systems and their performance
The Ministry of Health and Population has an official referral system, which is not active
in all of PHC facilities. The Health Sector Reform Program is putting a sizeable effort to
strengthening the referral system at all of its pilot governorates.
The first level referral for the family health unit (FHU) would be the family health center
or general hospital, depending on access and need for specialist care. The FHU can refer
to the general hospital, which will only accept referred cases.
The Health Sector Reform Program is in total coordination with different MOHP
departments in the process of completing the following issues in relationship to the
referral systems:
Update the current referral guidelines:
− Revise guidelines for referral (including minimum basic services at each level of
referral) and tie them to provider payment systems
− Based on the new referral guidelines, establish referral policies and a procedure
manual.
Develop job descriptions and standard basic treatment policies and guidelines.
Revise in-service and undergraduate/per-service training curriculum.
Ensure information dissemination and community participation.
Register and map population in catchments areas of pilot governorates where the
Family Health Management Model will be implemented.
Utilization: patterns and trends
The Egyptian National Health Care Provider Survey (MOHP/DDM, 1995) showed that
there are large differences in the utilization pattern by type of provider according to the
geographical region (urban versus rural) for health care services.
Current issues/concerns with primary care services
A highly dichotomized health delivery system, in which inpatient care is largely
provided by the MOHP/public sector, while most ambulatory care and
pharmaceuticals are mainly provided by the private sector.
A segmented provider market structure which results in different population groups
having different points of access, different level of payments, and following different
paths after entry into the system.
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