Press Releases

19 May 2010

Protest outside Parliament to Demand Increased Health Spending

The Committee for the Defense of the Right to Health, a coalition of activists and organizations including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, and the Doctors Without Rights Committee, organized a protest yesterday, Thursday 18 May, in front of the People’s Assembly to protest the meager health allocations in the 2010-11 state budget. Health spending in the budget accounts for 4.9% of total public expenditure and 1.4% of the GDP.

27 April 2010

Court of Administrative Justice Suspends New Drug-Pricing System… EIPR: the Ruling Stops the Violation of Citizens’ Right to Health & Life and The Government Must Implement It Immediately

The Court of Administrative Justice today issued a ruling suspending work under the new drug-pricing system, which tied drug prices in Egypt with global prices. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) filed an urgent lawsuit (no. 2457/64) on 22 October 2009 asking the court to suspend Health Minister Decree 373/2009, which would have entailed substantial price hikes for many kinds of drugs.

30 March 2010

Limiting State-Funded Treatment to Six Illnesses Threatens Patients’ Lives...Minister’s Office and Specialized Medical Councils: We Know Nothing About this Decree

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights warned today that the lives of patients receiving treatment at state expense were under threat after the state-owned al-Ahram reported yesterday, 29 March, that the Minister of Health had issued a decree to limit state-funded treatment to six illnesses: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high-blood pressure, renal failure, and Hepatitis C patients receiving interferon.

24 March 2010

EIPR Welcomes Withdrawal of Flawed Health Insurance Bill, and Asks Minister of Health to Submit a New Bill to the Public to Remedy the Failure of the Latest Bill

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights today welcomed the government’s withdrawal of its flawed health insurance bill and its decision to postpone submission of the bill to the next parliamentary session. The bill aims to provide universal insurance coverage but does so in name only, without achieving real, and just universal coverage.

22 March 2010

Letter from EIPR to al-Gabali: Ministry Workshop Promotes Confusion between Generic and Counterfeit Drugs... Workshop Recommendations Suggest Less Costly Drugs are Counterfeited

In a letter sent today to Minister of Health Hatem al-Gabali, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) warned against the danger of recommendations adopted by a workshop on pharmaceuticals in Egypt. The workshop, held by the Ministry of Health’s National Training Center in February, was titled “He Who Sees Fraud and Remains Silent Is an Accomplice.”

8 March 2010

Government failure to solve the crisis of state-funded treatment is tantamount to abandoning healthcare for the poor

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) cautioned the government that mishandling the crisis in the state-funded treatment program will lead to its abandoning its responsibility to provide medical treatment for the poor.

4 March 2010

Workshop Held by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights Examines the Challenges Facing the Realization of the Right to Health in Egypt

Challenges facing the right to health in Egypt were explored during the workshop held on Tuesday, 2 March by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

23 February 2010

Court of Administrative Justice to Issue Decision on Lawsuit Challenging Medicine Price Increases on April 27

The Cairo Court of Administrative Justice adjourned today's session examining the lawsuit filed by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) against the new drug-pricing regime until 27 April 2010, when it is due to issue a decision on the suspension of the decree. Lawsuit 2457/64 asks for a temporary stay of Minister of Health Decree 373/2009 establishing the new pricing regime as a prelude to its total abolition.

22 February 2010

Court of Administrative Justice Considers EIPR Lawsuit against the New Drug-Pricing Decree

The Cairo Court of Administrative Justice is scheduled to continue hearing tomorrow – Tuesday 23 February - a lawsuit filed by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights on 22 October 2009 challenging Minister of Health Decree 373/2009 on the pricing of drugs. The EIPR had filed the lawsuit (no.

13 December 2009

Proposed law on organ transplants is long awaited and its success will depend on executive bodies

‘Position paper’ by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights calls on the state to promptly pass the law and set guarantees for its implementation.