72M Egyptians seek medical services offered through presidential initiatives – Egypt Today

72M Egyptians seek medical services offered through presidential initiatives – Egypt Today

CAIRO – 23 June 2022: The Ministry of Health and Population declared Thursday that the number of citizens who sought the services offered through different presidential healthcare initiatives has amounted to 72 million, and that those paid a total number of visits of 101,498,747 to medical facilities nationwide. The ministry's spokesperson, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, said that those initiatives, that have been launched gradually since 2018, have played a pivotal role in the early diagnosis of many diseases. Also, the death rate among hypertension patients dropped by 32.6 percent, which is in numbers 41,358. Abdel Ghaffar pointed out that the annual new cases of hypertension used to cause a loss of 0.88 percent of the GDP, which is equivalent to $2.2 billion. Now, the percentage declined to 0.6 percent, which is equivalent to $1.5 billion. The Ministry of Health and Population announced in April that 23,906,809 females were screened for breast cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity since the launching of the Women Health Initiative in July 2019. The service is offered to females aged above 18 at 3,538 healthcare units, and 114 hospitals nationwide. As for those diagnosed with breast cancer, they can receive free of charge treatment at 14 university