Egypt and Qatar are seeking to improve their bilateral cooperation through the health sector. Cairo has recently offered Doha opportunities to invest in the medical field, through the construction of advanced health facilities according to international standards.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain agreed in January 2021 to end their boycott of Qatar, which began in 2017 over accusations that Doha was “supporting terrorist groups.” Qatar denied the accusations.
Over the past months, the relations between Egypt and Qatar have entered an advanced stage of reconciliation, reflected by frequent mutual visits at all levels and the signing of many cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding in the political and economic fields.
In this context, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Acting Minister of Health and Population, met Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Qatari Minister of Health, on the sidelines of the 75th session of the General Assembly of the World Health Organization in Geneva.
According to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Health on Tuesday, the meeting discussed joint cooperation in the health sector, and investment opportunities in Egypt, including the construction of advanced health facilities commensurate with international standards, in addition to developing and raising the efficiency of medical units, centers, hospitals affiliated with the ministry, and university hospitals.
The Egyptian minister underlined his country’s keenness on “continuous cooperation to raise the level of medical services provided to citizens.”
According to the statement, he highlighted the importance of cooperation between the two countries, by developing a specific plan to raise the efficiency of medical cadres working in the health sector in Egypt and Qatar, in addition to providing training programs for nursing teams and radiology technicians to train them on the latest technologies and modern medical devices.
The statement also quoted the Qatari Minister as praising the success achieved by Egypt in upgrading its health system and expressing her country’s aspiration for “more bilateral cooperation in all aspects of health care.”
