Egyptian head of UPA in Japan to expedite implementation of blood Bag Project

CAIRO - 17 May 2026: Head of the Unified Procurement Authority (UPA) Hisham Steit visited factories of the Japan Medical Supply Co., Ltd. (JMS) in Japan to discuss accelerating the implementation of the Japan-Egypt Blood Bag Project in cooperation with Interpharm Egypt.

The project is a partnership between the Japanese company JMS, the Egyptian Company for Medical Investments (the investment arm of the UPA), and Interpharm for Medical Industries. It is the first factory in Egypt and Africa to manufacture blood bags using Japanese technology. Egypt and Japan signed the said cooperation agreement in May 2024.

Dr. Hisham Steit, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the UPA, visited the JMS factories in Izumo, Japan, to learn about the latest Japanese technology in the field of pharmaceutical and medical industries.

The visit began with an inspection tour of the factory J.O. Pharma Co., Ltd., a joint venture between JMS and the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, that manufactures pre-filled pharmaceutical syringes and directs its entire production capacity to serve the Japanese market. He then toured the JMS group of factories.

He also visited the factory producing cardiac and thoracic surgery supplies, followed by the factory producing medicines and supplies used in dialysis.

Steit was received by Ryuji Katsura, Chairman and CEO of JMS, and other representatives from the both sides. During the meeting, emphasis was placed on the importance of expediting the implementation of the Japan-Egypt Blood Synthesis (JMS) project in compliance to the established timeline. This comes in light of this project’s pivotal role in bolstering local manufacturing and supporting the Authority's objectives to act as a gateway for African exports.