Egypt's Ministry Of Health And GE Healthcare Sign Strategic Agreement

(RTTNews) - GE Healthcare and the Ministry of Health of Egypt have signed a partnership agreement to boost the country's healthcare technology management system, with plans to establish a Biomed Center of Excellence in Egypt. The effort, which is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), has the potential to significantly enhance biomedical services across the country.

As per the terms of the agreement, a feasibility study for the establishment of a Biomed Center of Excellence will be conducted in phase one, prior to the development of a strategic operating plan that will see the launch of the unit in phase two, to be run by the Ministry of Health & Planning in co-operation with GE and WHO.

According to experts, around 50 percent of medical equipment in developing countries is not functioning, is not used correctly or optimally, and is unmaintained, placing extra strain on local healthcare delivery systems. Further, in a study, 85 percent of African hospitals reported difficulty finding qualified medical engineers locally. In response to these challenges, the GE Foundation, together with Engineering World Health and Duke University, supports biomedical engineering training programs in Nigeria, Ghana and Rwanda that provide basic technical knowledge of repairs and equipment management at the local-hospital level. Aimed at developing professional biomedical technicians, the program in Rwanda has observed that hospitals with trained technicians had 43 percent less out of service equipment in examined departments.

This program builds on the US$100 million investment commitment announcement made by GE this past month at the Africa Health Summit in London to developing healthcare education and training in the emerging markets. These new investments include the establishment of new healthcare training centers, locally configured curricula and a range of education partnerships with reputed regional academic institutions in Africa, Turkey & the Middle East and Russia & CIS by 2018.