{"id":572028,"date":"2020-06-09T04:22:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-09T04:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/06\/09\/covid-19-treatment-prices-at-egypts-private-hospitals-lead-the-nations-airwaves\/"},"modified":"2020-06-09T04:22:31","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T04:22:31","slug":"covid-19-treatment-prices-at-egypts-private-hospitals-lead-the-nations-airwaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/2020\/06\/09\/covid-19-treatment-prices-at-egypts-private-hospitals-lead-the-nations-airwaves\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 treatment prices at Egypt\u2019s private hospitals lead the nation\u2019s airwaves"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> The price of covid-19 treatment provided by private hospitals led the conversation on the<\/strong> airwaves<\/strong> last night after Health Minister Hala Zayed met yesterday<\/a> with representatives from the country\u2019s major private healthcare providers and head of the Federation of Egyptian Industries\u2019 private healthcare providers division, Alaa Abdel Meguid.<\/p>\n

The Health Ministry has agreed to raise by 20% the prices laid out in the <\/strong>mandatory pricing scheme<\/a><\/strong> it had released last week for private hospitals treating covid-19 patients, after the private sector voiced its objections that the scheme was untenable, Abdel Meguid told Al Kahera Alaan\u2019s Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 16:36<\/a>). Rep. Magdy Morshed, a member of the House Health Committee, suggested to Lamees that the country doesn\u2019t need to rely on private healthcare providers at all, and that state-owned hospitals alone can absorb covid-19 patients that require hospital care (watch, runtime: 3:18<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The private sector will cut operating costs as much as possible<\/strong> without sacrificing the quality of their services to help make ends meet under the ministry\u2019s pricing scheme, Abdel Meguid told El Hekaya\u2019s Amr Adib (watch, runtime: 2:32<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Anecdotes from patients\u2019 families:<\/strong> Masaa DMC\u2019s Eman El Hosary, meanwhile, spoke with a few people who relayed their personal experiences with private healthcare providers over the past several days, including one who said a family member was charged prices above those laid out in the ministry\u2019s mandatory pricing scheme after he was unable to find an available bed at state-owned hospitals (watch, runtime: 5:06<\/a>). Another caller alleged that a Sheikh Zayed hospital refused to admit a covid-19 case and overcharged the patient on a PCR test (watch, runtime: 5:41<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Lamees discussed the expected resumption of GERD negotiations today<\/strong> with Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies advisor Hani Raslan, who said that Cairo, Addis Ababa, and Khartoum could reach a final agreement in as little as two weeks if Ethiopia is serious about seeing eye-to-eye with its downstream neighbors (watch, runtime: 8:17<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Also on the airwaves:<\/p>\n