As governments explore means to improve the coverage of healthcare services amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Al-Mashat underlined the role of the private sector in the healthcare system, as it creates a powerful mechanism for addressing different challenges by capitalizing on the strengths of different partners, and facilitates the provision of services, resources, as well as technical expertise or outreach.

To enable the development of a continuously improving healthcare system in Egypt, which is in line with the technological advancements and global standards taking place at the international level, Al-Mashat stated that investment in digitalizing healthcare have now become pertinent in transforming care delivery, sustainable training and capacity building for the healthcare workers, as well as medical devices and equipment. As increased empowerment of women in the healthcare sector is more likely to close the gender gap and increase their ability to meet their own reproductive health goals, the meeting highlighted the significance of gender-informed decision-making, as women make up around 42.4% of human doctors and 91.1% nursing staff in the public sector, while 73.1% of nursing staff in hospitals and therapeutic facilities in the private sector. The government has placed the creation of an equitable healthcare system as well as improved patient care as a key strategy, which is being implemented in cooperation with international organizations such as GE to increase access to healthcare for the most vulnerable and expand services to other governorates, including the New Administrative Capital. The partnership between the government and GE Healthcare extends to more than 40 years, providing more than 15,000 healthcare technologies across Egypt to improve and modernize the sector. Ministry of International Cooperation is strengthening economic diplomacy through three main principles: regularly organizing multi-stakeholder platforms to ensure that all projects between development partners are streamlined and effectively coordinated; mapping ODA financing to SDGs for all projects with multilateral and bilateral development partners; and adopting a consistent Global Partnerships Narrative People&Projects&Purpose (P&P&P). In June 2020, the World Bank approved $400 million to support Egypt’s Universal Health Insurance System (UHIS), which unifies public efforts with the private sector to achieve value care services for the most vulnerable and eliminating existing disparities by offering temporary financial protection.