Egypt’s cabinet denies suspending initiative of free of charge surgeries to rationalize spending

Cairo - 19 March 2023: The Cabinet Media Center has dismissed as groundless reports on suspending the presidential initiative to end waiting lists for treatment of patients and free of charge urgent surgeries to rationalize spending.

The center said in a statement on Sunday it contacted the Ministry of Health and Population which dismissed the reports as untrue.

The Health and Population Ministry announced recently that over 1.621 million surgeries have been performed so far under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's initiative to end waiting lists which aim to expedite treatment for patients in need of urgent surgeries.

The initiative includes surgeries in heart catheterisation, bone, ophthalmology, tumors, brain catheters, cardiac catheters, brain and nerves, kidney transplant, liver transplant and cochlear transplant, said Health Ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar in a statement.