EgyHealth magazine first issue September 2020

Title: Health reform system at the era of Covid 19.

Message from EgyHealth Ambassador

About the author: Dr Nadia Cheaib is EgyHealth Ambassador. She is an international healthcare leader recognized 6 times by the prestigious FORBES as Most Influential Women Middle East list. She is founder and chairwoman of Clingroup worldwide, leader in health system and treatments development. She is also the president of the Health Comission at the French Chamber in Egypt and plays central rule in health knowledge transfer between France and Egypt.

Dear EgyHealth Community,

It was, and still is, my honor when Heads of EgyHealth Congress requested me to be the Ambassador of EgyHealth for 2020. I always loved this unique great nation Egypt, and have been always fascinated by its history, culture, modern art, and have come to know many great Egyptian awesome highly professional doctors, officials and entrepreneurs, which reinforced my appreciation to this amazing nation, till a point a part from my heart started beating with Egypt vibes and colors.

Being also devoted to the French-Egyptian health relationship consolidation, through my role of presiding the health committee at the French chamber in Cairo, we had started this amazing journey in 9 June 2019 by presiding the first Egypt France healthcare conference and this after the launching of the egyptian healthcare reform in October 2018 which demonstrated an outstanding vision and care of the Egyptian presidency towards a sustainable development of the healthcare system in Egypt and a deep presidential willingness of allowing a universal healthcare coverage all over this great nation.

This conference was classified by our French Chamber, as the second most important French Egyptian event in 2019, after the presidential Egypt-France summit of January 2019. The next step was to carry on a great sustainable success Egypt France through EgyHealth 2020, and we had started working on an amazing agenda for our due congress in September 2020, and had to postpone it to 2021 because of Covid 19 pandemic.

Here indeed I can only praise this amazing vision set by the President Elsisi since 2018, by requesting this healthcare system reform to the whole country, as this reform is leading to a major quality focus health system, which implementation is serving many goals, of course universal health coverage, but also…pandemic management improvement..

How healthcare reform is impacting positively the covid19 management

During Covid starting period, we at Egyhealth have switched to several interviews we did with leaders in Egyptian healthcare institutes from Mansura hospital, 57357 and healthcare stakeholders (visit page Egyhealth on facebook to listen to interviews).

What intrigued and impressed me in all, and confirmed my opinion shared here, is how setting quality systems within institutions have tremendously supported the crisis management and relieved many of the major burdens, despite all.

This was and will always be, emphasized by the major ongoing leadership made over the universal health coverage pillars and cornerstones requesting quality, standards and processes to ensure the massive tasks management, in normal time, and even more in pandemic time.

Patient safety is the cornerstone of high-quality, cost-efficient health care. Evidence demonstrates that proper systems are truly major and effective tools for uniformly and sustainably delivering optimal, quality-focused, patient-centric, safe care. In every country, there is opportunity to improve the quality, cost-efficiency, and performance of the health care system. Advanced technology (in the form of clinical decision support solutions and systems) has played a transforming role in easing and encouraging consistent proper system implementation to raise the standards of clinical care. Leaders are critical in meeting the challenges of proper systems implementation across their organisations and in managing the change process required for patients to receive sustainable safe, high-quality care. Proper systems provide an effective and efficient way to begin.

Current situation and forecast:

The public health care system (MoHP) is experiencing most of the pressure and MoHP added another 320 hospitals to the initially selected ones. Academia (university hospitals) and the private sector had stepped in also to release some of pressure on the public health sector, also major health NGOs are very active in supporting government and public hospitals and clinics, to note here and salute efforts of all those parties and remind that Egypt social responsibility mindset is very high within population as overall, it was already widely observed within food, education before covid health and small projects and is moe and more also observed in covid

For how long it is going to last and is it one, two or several peaks, all these questions and projections are affected by the degree of community Mobility, adherence to physical distance and precautionary measures over the coming period. Nevertheless the awareness increase is very supportive.

What is good about this great nation in always raising are learning lessons to improve and progress, is that joining health reform to covid lessons learnt, are adding improvement opportunities from turning challenges into development, to cite few examples: 

§ The new home isolation and treatment strategy

§ the increase awareness in population capturing all mild cases

§ the Fragmentation of the medical service between governmental, academia and private sectors.

§ the standardized quality provided healthcare services across different levels, especially in peripheral areas

§ the  Clarity about new regulations governing the procurement policy and the activation of the new regulatory Unified Procurement Authority (UPA)

§ the Harmonization Sectors/Agencies different strategic approaches towards enforcement of national responses

This reminds me on the note I wish to close with, and its Albert Einstein quote: “ in difficulties lay Opportunities”, knowing the ongoing healthcare reform in Egypt, and the Egyptian President and Government amazing willingness to its best implementation despite all obstacles, and knowing the current egyptian management and outcome of the Covid19 pandemic, all those make me feel very confident of Egypt health system taking best lessons learnt from Covid19 pandemic for best improvement process contribution within the ongoing reform.

See you in September 2021 with God Willing, Ce n’est que partie remise (French proverb meaning the game is only postponed not cancelled)