Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stressed the need for continuous monitoring of the availability of medicines and medical supplies at hospitals nationwide, including those affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Population and university hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, to ensure regular supplies meet patients’ needs.Madbouly made the remarks during a meeting on Wednesday September 2,2026 at the government headquarters in the New Capital to follow up on the availability of medicines and medical supplies at various hospitals.
The meeting was attended by Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Acting Minister of Culture Abdel Aziz Konsowa, Egyptian Drug Authority Chairman Ali el Ghamrawy, Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement, Medical Supply and the Management of Medical Technology Chairman Hisham Stait, and officials from the relevant ministries and authorities.
Madbouly stressed the importance of continuously monitoring medicine and medical supply stocks to ensure hospitals maintain adequate strategic reserves, particularly amid supply-chain disruptions resulting from political developments and events in the region.He said the state has allocated around EGP 90 billion in the current fiscal year’s budget to secure various medicines and medical supplies and build up adequate stocks at hospitals.Madbouly noted that the Unified Procurement Authority has an integrated system for the storage, distribution and supply of medical needs, contributing to the sustained availability of medicines and supplies.Abdel Ghaffar reviewed the availability of medicines and medical supplies at hospitals affiliated with the ministry, affirming that stocks are currently at reassuring levels and that there is no chronic shortage of medicines or medical supplies.He explained that temporary shortages of certain medicines may occasionally occur, but the required quantities are provided immediately through coordination with the Unified Procurement Authority.
He described such shortages as a normal occurrence in a country with a population exceeding 120 million.Stait stressed the importance of optimizing the use of assets and stocks, improving spending efficiency, and strengthening the resilience and sustainability of supply chains.He said the medical supply system, whose implementation has expanded significantly, has become a national tool for measuring performance and improving the efficiency of healthcare resource management by supporting the availability of medicines and medical supplies, reducing waste, improving spending efficiency, and enabling data-driven decision-making based on unified, measurable data.Stait said 38,000 healthcare workers currently use the system to monitor procurement, supply, inventory and delivery procedures.
The system also covers 11,000 medical facilities, allowing the monitoring of needs, inventory, consumption and the movement of items across the healthcare sector, in addition to 2,000 suppliers integrated into the procurement and supply cycle.He explained that the system has helped standardize warehouses across the government healthcare sector and classify them according to their actual operational status, providing an accurate picture of warehouse activity and inventory movement.Stait stressed that electronic inventory-taking is a key pillar of the system.
A mobile application has been launched to enable healthcare teams to conduct field inventories electronically through rapid scanning using mobile phones.He said the approach reduces technology infrastructure costs while offering several strategic benefits, including generating and printing inventory records directly through the system, reconciling physical inventories with stock data recorded in the system, and updating inventory balances in real time with a high degree of accuracy and reliability.The system also ensures that inspection and inventory procedures comply with the requirements of the Central Auditing Organization and the Ministry of Finance, while standardizing inventory procedures and documenting them in a unified digital record, Stait said.He noted that the initiative was accompanied by an extensive training program comprising online and in-person workshops and field visits to ensure that employees and warehouse managers are able to conduct electronic inventories efficiently.Stait said implementation of the system represents an important step forward for the Unified Procurement Authority, enabling financial planning and inventory management based on accurate, real-time data.
This will support the optimal use of public resources and help direct medical supplies to entities with actual needs.He added that the system will improve the efficiency of supply and procurement chains, facilitate procurement and financial flows, and strengthen relations with suppliers, thereby enhancing the efficiency of the procurement and supply cycle as a whole.He affirmed that the project falls within a broader vision to transform Egypt’s healthcare sector into an integrated digital system based on data, governance and transparency.Stait noted that building an integrated health information database strengthens national pharmaceutical and health security, supports the application of governance and quality standards, and contributes to building a modern and sustainable healthcare system aligned with international standards.He emphasized that the healthcare-sector inventory management and governance project is not merely aimed at determining what is available in warehouses.
Rather, it seeks to establish an integrated system covering the entire lifecycle of healthcare inventory, from planning, procurement, supply and receipt to storage, distribution, consumption, inventory-taking and reconciliation.During the meeting, Konsowa reviewed the availability of medicines and medical supplies at university hospitals.
He noted that the Unified Procurement Authority had increased strategic stocks of various medicines in recent days, helping improve the availability of pharmaceutical supplies and ensure continuity of medical services at university hospitals.Konsowa also outlined several challenges facing patients receiving treatment at the expense of the state at university hospitals or through health insurance.
He stressed the importance of addressing these challenges to ensure that such patients receive the necessary treatment and have access to the medicines and medical supplies they require.Madbouly directed the ministers to focus on activating the system and continuously monitoring its implementation to strengthen governance, ensure that its objectives are achieved, and improve the management and availability of medicines and medical supplies.