Prime Minister Follows up Efforts to Tackle Coronavirus

Dr. Mustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, has announced  jobs for readers, teaching assistants and assistant teachers in various universities and assigning them to work in university hospitals and recommending full dealing with hospitals of the Ministry of Health.

The jobs include a position of a fellow and an associate fellow of the Educational Hospital Authority and assign them to work for them.

The PM's office has stated the increase of 150 seats on the hotline (105) to deal with injured and suspected cases  and  improve the government complaints system to coordinate patient service, in addition to providing  examination  and  supplying  treatment in 330 hospitals affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Higher Education at the level of the Republic.

The office updates the electronic application "Sehat Misr-Health Egypt" and adds a list of hospitals and show  how to get to the nearest hospital and follow-up patients with domestic isolation.

The office takes care to protect the medical teams from infection with the virus  and apply  8900 "PCR" analyzes and 20 thousand quick analyzes for the medical crews  so far.

The Prime Minister stresses the necessity of having sufficient balance and stock of medical supplies in all hospitals, agreeing to open the door for grievances to requests for assignment to doctors and the rehabilitation and training of fresh graduated  doctors of the current batch of the various faculties of medicine for emergency work and infection control.

Dr. Mustafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, chaired a meeting today; to follow up the latest developments made by all state agencies, in the framework of facing the novel Coronavirus, as well as  the availability of the various supplies and medical devices needed to deal with this crisis.

Today's meeting was attended by Dr. Khalid Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Hala Zayed,  Minister of Health and Population, Osama Haykal, the Minister of State for Information, Dr. Mohamed Awad Taj El-Din, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Health and Prevention Affairs, and Maj. Gen.  Bahaa El-Din Zidan, Chairman of the Egyptian Authority for Unified Purchase, Supply and Medical Supply and the Department of Medical Technology.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Premier directed all appreciation, respect and greetings to all medical teams currently working in fighting  the Coronavirus crisis.

He considered them as the first line of defense in dealing with this crisis. He stressed the government's full support for the various efforts made by the  medical teams in facing the virus.

He assured the constant concern to protect the medical crews  from infection with the virus.

The PM went on to say that the government is working to provide everything necessary for confronting the virus effectively.

He  indicated what was allocated from a percentage of the beds in all hospitals to medical teams if they are infected, emphasizing the provision of various aspects of necessary care to them. He noted in this regard that rapid analyzes are performed for all medical teams.

PM revealed that 8900 "PCR" analyzes have been carried out so far, and about 20 thousand quick analyzes were also conducted to examine infection of various medical teams  in all hospitals.

Government's agencies continue to perform the necessary analyses for them, as well as providing all medical supplies.

The Prime Minister touched on the results and recommendations of the recently held meeting in the presence of the Ministers of Higher Education and Health and the Presidential Adviser for Health and Prevention Affairs to study ways to maximize the benefit of medical human cadres during the current period to confront the crisis of the Coronavirus.

He  affirmed that those recommendations included approval to open grievances section for requests for assignment to doctors, provided that doctors are assigned to work in hospitals of the Ministry of Health to confront the crisis.

He noted that a plan was drawn to rehabilitate and train doctors of the current batch, for various medical faculties that started the concession on 1/3/2020, and ends on 28/2/2021.

The fresh graduated doctors will be trained to provide them with the skills of working in the departments of emergency, critical care and infection control.

The government agreed to announce the positions of teaching assistants and assistant teachers at various universities and Al-Azhar University, and assign them to work in university hospitals.

The newly assigned doctors are recommended to deal with the hospitals of the Ministry of Health, where they are estimated at about 7000 doctors.

The recommendations also included agreeing to announce the position of a fellow and an associate fellow at the Educational Hospital Authority of the Ministry of Health and assign them to work in its hospitals.

The  number of those doctors is estimated at 1,200 doctors, provided that the annual cost of financing these jobs is managed.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister reviewed the current position of various supplies and medical devices in all hospitals affiliated to the ministries of Health and Higher Education.

The Prime Minister stressed the importance of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the hotline (105) for dealing with infected and suspected cases of infection with Coronavirus.

The Minister of Health confirmed in this regard that the number of employees has been increased by about 150 seats.

The Prime Minister directed that the system of Governmental Complaints should assist in receiving citizens communications and inquiries about the Coronavirus in coordination with Ministry of Health officials.

The complaints of citizens can be registered through the electronic portal of the unified government complaints system in the cabinet  which its address is: "www.Shakwa.eg", or by calling the cabinet hotline linked to the system 16528, or by applying "at your service" on the mobile phone.

The Prime Minister also followed up the measures taken within the framework of the strategy for dealing with positive cases which included the inclusion of about 320 public and central non-specialized hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Population to examine the suspected cases of Coronavirus  and to provide the necessary treatment for these cases.

The Minister of Health indicated that 27 general and central hospitals have been included within Cairo Governorate to work to receive these cases and provide treatment to them, along with two university hospitals, and 17 hospitals in Giza , 27 in Dakahlia, 25 in Sharqia next to a university hospital, 17 in the lake, 17 in Sohag, 15 in Gharbia, 15 in Menoufia, 15 in Damietta, 14 in Assiut next to a university hospital, 13 in Aswan next to a university hospital, 14 in Minya, 13 in Kafr El Sheikh, 12 in Alexandria next to a university hospital, 11 in Qalyubia next to two university hospitals, 7 in the Red Sea, 8 in Fayoum alongside a university hospital, 5 in Luxor, 7 in Qena, and 5 in New Valley , And 7 in Beni Suef to Ja University Hospital, 5 in Port Said, 7 in Matrouh, 6 in North Sinai, 5 in South Sinai, 4 in Suez, and 2 in Ismailia.

The Prime Minister reiterated the importance of providing all the necessary supplies and medical devices to deal with the Coronavirus-infected cases inside these hospitals, with the need to make detection and treatment available for all cases without being restricted to the place of residence on the national ID card.

Data of the patients should be linked with the database of the campaign "100 Million Health", in an attempt to integrate the various health databases for all citizens, and the Ministry of Health to periodically follow up on these cases.

The Minister of Health also mentioned that the electronic application "Sehat Misr-Health Egypt" has been updated as the list of public and central hospitals  have been annexed.

The ministry defined how to reach the nearest hospital to the residence   in order to facilitate the service to citizens.

The Minister of Health reviewed a report that included an update of the total number of cases infected with the novel   Corona virus, and cases in which the results of   cases that turned from positive to negative, as well as cases that received treatment and were cured and discharged from hospitals.

She revealed  the total deaths resulting from this infection with the virus, and the distribution of those cases at the level of  governorates of the Republic, as well as the distribution of infected cases, whether inside hospitals, hostels or domestic isolation.

Contributed by Ahmed Moamar