Egypt’s Healthcare Authority (EHA) has launched a free winter home-care campaign for people with chronic illnesses, elderly patients, and persons with disabilities across governorates covered by the Universal Health Insurance System (UHIS), the authority said on Sunday.
The campaign targets more than 7,000 people, with medical teams having already reached over 5,000 beneficiaries through home visits and medicine delivery services, according to the authority.
The initiative includes free home delivery of prescribed medicines, which began this month in Suez as a pilot phase and is set to expand to other UHIS governorates.
Healthcare teams are conducting regular home visits to monitor patients’ conditions, ensure treatment adherence, and provide medical guidance, the authority said, as winter weather increases pressure on public health facilities.
The campaign currently covers first-phase UHIS governorates: Port Said, Luxor, Ismailia, South Sinai, Suez, and Aswan. Suez was selected to trial the medicine delivery service before a wider rollout.
EHA chairman Ahmed El-Sobky said the authority has so far achieved around 71 percent of its December target, stressing that the measures demonstrate the UHIS’s readiness to manage seasonal pressures while prioritizing patient safety and service quality.
The authority has also made seasonal influenza vaccines available at family medicine centres, primary healthcare units, and affiliated hospitals to reduce winter-related complications, particularly among high-risk groups.
The UHIS, overseen by the EHA, currently serves more than 6.2 million people.
The program was launched on a trial basis in Port Said in 2018 and has since expanded to several governorates as part of its first implementation phase, completed in July 2025.
The scheme was initially scheduled to achieve nationwide coverage by 2032, but the timeline was later accelerated, with full implementation now planned between 2027 and 2030.
Officials say the system has so far delivered more than 250 million health services, with total funding exceeding EGP 48 billion, as part of a broader overhaul of Egypt’s public healthcare sector.
(AhramOnline)
