The Egyptian Health Council: A Step Forward in the Right Way

Introduction

If we asked ourselves what is the institution entrusted with providing health services to any citizen, the answer will be sure that The Ministry of Health through application of The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and recommendations, [1] but if we looked at the institutions based on providing health service in Egypt, we will find that there are many ministries and agencies that provide health services to the Egyptian citizens as Ministries of Health, Higher Education, Defense, Interior ………etc.

• The Ministry of Health represented in the hospitals of the Ministry of health, motherhood and childhood centers, private medical centers, the general authority for health insurance, specialized medical centers and others.
• The Ministry of Higher Education represented by university hospitals
• Al-Azhar University represented in Al-Azhar University hospitals
• The Ministry of Defense is represented in the military hospitals
• The Ministry of the Interior is represented in the hospitals of the Ministry of the Interior
• The Ministry of Social Solidarity is represented in various scientific societies with their guidelines.
• Physicians and pharmacists Syndicates, which express more about the social component of doctors and pharmacists, but the matter is not without holding health seminars and workshops.
• The Egyptian national agency for continuous medical education and training

Where is the problem then?

All of these agencies and ministries are based on providing a health service to the Egyptian citizens from different aspects and different visions, each according to their personal convictions - to a large extent - for example, we find that there are hospitals committed to following European guidelines [2] in dealing with any health problem, others who follow American[3] or Indian [4]guidelines, while there are those who do not have a unified guidelines source to follow, but they take from this sometimes and that at other times.

In this situation everyone sings, but each one sings in isolation from the others. If you listen to him, you will like his singing solo, but unfortunately when all of these gather to sing, the result is for all of them (dissonance). With a little of organization and arrangement between all of them, we can then listen to a wonderful piece of music with complete construction.

What are the proposed solutions?

Therefore, it was necessary to have a single institution - or a single agency - that brings together all these agencies under its cloak that is responsible for unifying the clinical visions and guidelines that must be followed and how to obligate everyone to them, punishing those who deviate from them, and continuing to develop the educational and training process for those who provide medical services to the Egyptian citizens.

On March,2022, The Egyptian Health Council Law No. 12 for 2022 was issued [5] promulgating a law establishing and organizing the Egyptian Health Council that aims to organize the fields of health in Egypt in the areas of post-university education and specialized training, rehabilitation and development of the scientific and clinical level for all health workers including all graduates of health sector, which are colleges of faculties of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Physical therapy, Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, Medicine of the Armed Forces, the Military Medical Academy of the Armed Forces, and the Faculties of the Health sector at Al-Azhar University.

What about the main functions and targets of the council?

The main functions of this council are developing the level of medical and health training for health workers in various medical specialties and testing them to verify that they are qualified efficient for safe medical and health practice. As well as achieving integration and cooperation in the field of health training, between the council and the various scientific agencies and scientific societies either local or international. Finally the Council will be responsible for permitting a license to practice the profession to all physicians. [6] This comes through a number of steps, including:

• Developing the level of medical and health training for health workers in various medical specialties and testing them to verify that they are qualified efficient for safe medical and health practice.
• Achieving integration and cooperation in the field of health training, between the council and the various scientific agencies and scientific societies and councils in the same fields of local and international specializations.
• To obtain a license to practice the profession, the license applicant must successfully pass the test held by the Council to qualify to practice the profession.
• Approving the scientific, professional and specialized training programs for higher health for the post-university education stage, approving the professional certificates for those who pass these programs and exchanging the recognition of the professional certificates approved by the Council with its counterparts in the various local and international agencies.
• Setting specifications and standards for medical institutions that have the ingredients for post-university training in the health fields with its various specializations, approving the organizing rules, specifications and conditions for training places, accrediting supervisors, setting standards and requirements for trainers, and setting standards for the content of specialized health training.
• Contracting with the relevant local authorities to update the training and evaluation system.
• Working on establishing patient records, forming scientific committees and specialized committees for national medical records for various diseases and epidemics, committees for internal evaluation and review, medical ethics, care for the rights of members of the health professions, guidelines for medical interventions, professional development and examinations.

What about the challenges?

In order for the Egyptian Health Council to apply all of these goals, it must have (the power of act) in the form of legal, economic and scientific powers. [7] 

The Council must have the legal power in issuing the legislation organizing the work between those in charge of the educational and training process and doctors and health workers from aspect, and between doctors and workers in the health field and the health service recipient (patients) on the other hand and had the power for punishment of those who violate these rules and instructions.

It must have the economic power for spending on the establishment and equipment of training centers, medical education and other wages and expenses for those in charge of the educational and training process and equipping hospitals and various health places with the latest different medical devices necessary to implement the training.

Lastly, it must have the scientific power for all staff members in those in charge of setting clinical instructions, the examinations and evaluation process for physicians and health workers.

Cooperation is mandatory

We had previously touched on the Egyptian Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) and the most important challenges facing the project, [8] now- in less than 6 months- we are pointing to the Egyptian Health Council about our discussion of the most important challenges of the Egyptian Clinical Practice Guidelines Project (CPG), which indicates a real desire to change the health sector in Egypt to the better through having:

-  One (Egyptian System) for All Health Workers

- One (Egyptian Guidelines) for all physicians

- One (License) for all physicians

- One (Training System) for all

To achieve these goals, cooperation is mandatory between the council   and other agencies and scientific committees in all specialties and cooperation with other health Arabic councils as Saudi and Gulf health councils. [9, 10] 

Finally the council should have the strength of acceptance of criticism and while translating these goals into practice and continuous re-evaluation and corrections of what may be raised in the future from the place of disagreement or discussion.

The success of the council will be sure reflected upon all health aspects and branches including neonatal and perinatal medicine as branches of the health field.

Lastly, Will the Egyptian health council be able to unite the visions and apply all of these goals of different agencies to only one system? We hope that.

In conclusion

The Egyptian Health Council Law was issued on March 2022, promulgating a law establishing and organizing the Egyptian Health Council that aims to organize the fields of health in Egypt. Cooperation is mandatory between the Council and other agencies and different scientific committees but will the Egyptian Health Council be able to achieve his goal and unite the different visions through only one Egyptian system?