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How Can Egypt Promote Medical Tourism?

The salt lake in Siwa Oasis, an example of medical tourism in Egypt. (Tourism Development Authority)
The salt lake in Siwa Oasis, an example of medical tourism in Egypt. (Tourism Development Authority)
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How Can Egypt Promote Medical Tourism?

The salt lake in Siwa Oasis, an example of medical tourism in Egypt. (Tourism Development Authority)
The salt lake in Siwa Oasis, an example of medical tourism in Egypt. (Tourism Development Authority)

As part of Egypt’s efforts to promote medical tourism, the government has made serious steps in this field. The Ministry of Health and Population recently announced it was planning to launch an electronic platform to provide medical tourism services within three months.

Ministry of Health and Population Spokesperson Hossam Abdel Ghaffar stated on Monday that Egypt intends to become among the world’s top five countries in medical tourism and targets 10 percent of the global medical tourism revenues.

The announcement came few days after Egyptian Minister of Health and Population Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar directed the Supreme Committee for Medical Tourism to swiftly complete the electronic platform and to work with all sectors to level up the medical tourism services.

The minister also indicated that Egypt is qualified for this type of tourism, with its developed health facilities and distinguished doctors, as well as its ambitious plan and vision to be on the international map of medical tourism.

Egypt aims for $14 billion in revenues from the medical tourism sector by the end of 2023, compared to $12.2 billion in 2022, and $8.9 billion in 2021.

Tourism expert Mohammad Farouk told Asharq Al-Awsat that the platform is “highly important”, noting that Egypt has a remarkable experience and good reputation around the world, and that promoting this reputation through the platform would bring significant revenues to Egypt.

Farouk added that some economies, such as India, rely on medical tourism but Egypt suffers from negligence and lacks the mechanisms that enable it to compete in this sector despite the expertise and its highly-equipped hospitals.

He said that many experts and entrepreneurs have called for years to improve medical tourism, noting that the government should have a clear vision to exploit the available resources in this type of tourism. He also highlighted a previous study reporting that medical tourism in Egypt could generate $20 to $25 billion yearly.

Tourism expert Bashar Abu Taleb, head of the Red Sea Tour Guides Syndicate, applauded the idea of the platform and the role it will play in promoting the Egyptian medical products and services around the world. He also described it as a step that keeps up with the digital evolution and the efforts many countries are making in this field.

Abu Taleb said Egypt has remarkable potentials in this industry, such as beaches, sands and weather, but it needs more publicity and better logistics.

The tourism expert highlighted that many hotels and resorts in the Red Sea have integrated hospitals and medical centers in their facilities in the past few years, noting that these experiences proved successful in Hurghada, for example, to which German older tourists flock to seek medical care.

Abu Taleb said the Siwa Oasis in the western desert is known for its therapeutic sands and salt lakes, in addition to sulfur baths in Oyun Musa. Egypt is also known for alternative medicine like herbal medicine, which guarantees unusual therapeutic programs that can be widely promoted on the platform.

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Scientists Seek Miracle Pill to Stop Methane Cow Burps

A cow that's part of study on reducing methane emitted by cow burps stands in an exclosure at UC Davis in Davis, California on October 23, 2024. (AFP)
A cow that's part of study on reducing methane emitted by cow burps stands in an exclosure at UC Davis in Davis, California on October 23, 2024. (AFP)
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Scientists Seek Miracle Pill to Stop Methane Cow Burps

A cow that's part of study on reducing methane emitted by cow burps stands in an exclosure at UC Davis in Davis, California on October 23, 2024. (AFP)
A cow that's part of study on reducing methane emitted by cow burps stands in an exclosure at UC Davis in Davis, California on October 23, 2024. (AFP)

A scientist guides a long tube into the mouth and down to the stomach of Thing 1, a two-month-old calf that is part of a research project aiming to prevent cows from burping methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Paulo de Meo Filho, a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Davis, is part of an ambitious experiment aiming to develop a pill to transform cow gut bacteria so it emits less or no methane.

While the fossil fuel industry and some natural sources emit methane, cattle farming has become a major climate concern due to the sheer volume of the cows' emissions.

"Almost half of the increase in (global) temperature that we've had so far, it's been because of methane," said Ermias Kebreab, an animal science professor at UC Davis.

Methane, the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, breaks down faster than CO2 but is more potent.

"Methane lives in the atmosphere for about 12 years" unlike carbon dioxide which persists for centuries, Kebreab said.

"If you start reducing methane now, we can actually see the effect on the temperature very quickly."

Filho uses the tube to extract liquid from Thing 1's rumen -- the first stomach compartment containing partially digested food.

Using the rumen liquid samples, the scientists are studying the microbes that convert hydrogen into methane, which is not digested by the cow but instead burped out.

A single cow will burp roughly 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of the gas annually.

- 'Social critters' -

Thing 1 and other calves receive a seaweed-supplemented diet to reduce methane production.

Scientists hope to achieve similar results by introducing genetically modified microbes that soak up hydrogen, starving methane-producing bacteria at the source.

However, the team proceeds cautiously.

"We can't just simply cut down methane production by removing" methane-making bacteria, as hydrogen could accumulate to the point of harming the animal, warned Matthias Hess, who runs the UC Davis lab.

"Microbes are kind of social critters. They really like to live together," he said.

"The way they interact and affect each other impacts the overall function of the ecosystem."

Hess's students test different formulas in bioreactors, vessels that reproduce microorganisms' living conditions in a stomach from movements to temperature.

- More productive cows -

The project is being carried out at UC Davis as well as UC Berkeley's Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI).

IGI scientists are trying to identify the right microbe -- the one they hope to genetically alter to supplant methane-producing microbes.

The modified microorganisms will then be tested at UC Davis in the lab and in the animals.

"Not only are we trying to reduce methane emissions, but you also increase the feed efficiency," said Kebreab.

"Hydrogen and methane, they are both energy, and so if you reduce that energy and redirect it to something else... we have a better productivity and lower emissions at the same time."

The ultimate goal is a single-dose treatment administered early in life, since most cattle graze freely and can't receive daily supplements.

The three research teams have been given $70 million and seven years to achieve a breakthrough.

Kebreab has long studied sustainable livestock practices and pushes back against calls to reduce meat consumption to save the planet.

While acknowledging this might work for healthy adults in developed nations, he pointed to countries like Indonesia, where the government is seeking to increase meat and dairy production because 20 percent of children under five suffer from stunted growth.

"We can't tell them to not eat meat," he said.