Healthy citizens, a resilient economy, and sustainable GDP growth rates have always been interlinked. “There’s a well-understood correlation that as the economy of a country improves, so the health of its citizens improves,” Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institute of Health, wrote on the World Economic Forum website. “What may be less obvious is that … improving the health of a nation’s citizens can directly result in economic growth because there will be more people able to conduct effective activities in the workforce.” 

Investors see potential in Egypt’s medical sector. According to Mohamed Haroun, Africa’s general manager for GE Healthcare, Egypt is more attractive than most other African countries. For example, “Nigeria has a huge population, like Egypt. That doesn’t mean demand,” he said. “Egypt has more purchasing power than Nigeria. That means you have a market in the former but not the latter.”

At AmCham Egypt’s May Investment Conference, government and private sector speakers from healthcare, medical diagnostics, and medical equipment manufacturers highlighted opportunities in Egypt and the region. They also discussed incumbent problems that could thwart efforts to elevate the local medical ecosystem.

Solid local market

Local demographics are creating massive sustainable health-related investment opportunities. “Egypt is very promising, [thanks to] the growing population [and] the need for more intervention, ” Ahmed Ezz El Din, Cleopatra Hospitals Group’s CEO, said at the Investment Conference. “If we do nothing, the sector will grow by double digits yearly.”

Another benefit is that medical procedures in Egypt are more affordable versus comparable nations, particularly India. “In Egypt, some operations cost a fifth of what India charges,” he said. “That opens the door for medical tourism, especially because we have top-notch doctors.”

Omar El-Laban, CEO of B Healthcare Investments, sees increasing opportunities from the “prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity and diabetes.” 

To capitalize, Egypt needs significant medical investment. “The global average is 2.5 beds per 1,000 patients,” noted Ezz El Din. “In Egypt, it is only 1.3.”

Attracting such investments could be tricky as Egypt will compete with “GCC countries [which] are going through a rapid [medical investment] transformation,” El-Laban said. “Egypt can only attract those investors provided there is a healthy investment landscape.”

State support

The government’s medical sector flagship project is the Universal Health Insurance System (UHIS), which started in 2018 and will conclude by 2030. “Population growth, more citizens getting older, prevalence of diseases, and low [local] investment in health prompted the development of the universal health service to give everyone access to quality medical services without the financial burden,” Magdy Bakr, senior adviser to the chairman of the Egypt Healthcare Authority (EHA), said during AmCham Egypt’s Investment Conference.

Bakr noted phase one of UHIS, deployed in six governorates (6 million beneficiaries), is complete. “Phase 2 will cover five governorates whose combined population is between 12 million and 13 million,” he said.

The government is pushing the private sector to invest in the medical industry — whether under the UHIS or outside it — as it withdraws from owning and managing hospitals and clinics. “They have the infrastructure, capacity, knowledge, and capabilities in different areas, complementing the scope of service and accessibility of health coverage,” Bakr said. Currently, the private sector owns 65% of Egypt’s medical facilities.

To attract more private medical investments, the government is customizing incentives. Haroun of GE Healthcare said they “created a task force with the government to determine what kind of support we need to start local manufacturing. That doesn’t happen in other countries, as they have a preset list of incentives and facilitations, which may not fully benefit investors.” 

Bakr said the government’s strategy aligns with the 2022 State Ownership Document and a 2024 law that allows private operators to run state hospitals. He also noted the Sovereign Fund of Egypt’s role in turning state medical assets into lucrative private-sector opportunities.

Springboard to Africa

Success in Egypt has enabled Hend El Sherbini, Integrated Diagnostics Holding (IDH) CEO, to expand in the Arab world and Africa. “The prevalence of chronic diseases and shortage of tests per patient creates a massive opportunity,” she said. 

El Sherbini said IDH first expanded to Sudan, as it “was the natural next step in 2011.” The company then opened in Jordan, where it encountered significant competition “due to the high quality of private sector and government medical providers there.”

Nigeria followed. “It proved tough due to the devaluation, inflation, regulations, laws, and repatriation,” El Sherbini said. “Since we opened there in 2018, we have learned a lot and generated profits. [It was a] risk as many investors were losing money there.” 

Her latest venture is in Saudi Arabia. “We opened [there] because it makes sense because of their currency stability and [economic opportunity]. Also, their health problems are similar to Egypt’s,” she said. 

Ezz El Din of Cleopatra Group stressed Africa’s lucrative health and medical markets despite incumbent challenges. “The [continent’s] medical sector from three years ago was $50 billion,” he said. “We are making a couple of million.” 

Capitalizing on Africa’s opportunities requires using uncommon approaches. “China and India account for 40% of the African market. India donates Malaria medicine to the continent to secure its position in the medical sector,” Ezz El Din said. “Their governments also work to bring business to their respective countries, regardless of which local company signs the contract.”

Room of elephants

Despite the government’s efforts, local medical services and manufacturers still face significant problems. One is the need to “expedite and simplify logistics when importing and exporting,” said Haroun.

Another problem is the lack of land freight links from Egypt to South and East Africa. “Cross-border road transport across the continent is cheaper than air or sea freight,” Haroun explained. 

El-Laban cited “licensing, which takes too long … It took one year to change ownership of one of our facilities from one legal entity to another.” He also noted “vague regulations for mergers and acquisitions, limiting ownership of medical facilities to locally certified doctors.”

Then there is the high cost of financing medical projects or clinics and infrastructure-ready land prices, “which are very high,” El-Laban said.

The lack of doctors is a significant concern. As it stands, Egypt had 6.8 doctors per 10,000 patients in 2021, while the standard is 17, noted Sherif Hakky, a surgeon who migrated to the U.K. to build his career and is now splitting his time between there and Egypt. “In 2025, that rate could have dropped to 5.5 per 10,000 patients,” he said. “The healthcare sector is all about doctors. Without them, the entire sector would collapse.” El Sherbini said half of her 6,000 staffers are doctors. 

Future fixes

Bakr acknowledged those problems, noting that additional pressure comes from “[geopolitical] unrest around Egypt resulting in 12 million refugees and migrants relocating here, requiring medical and health services.”

He said that by 2030, the government plans to have three hospital beds per 1,000 patients, nearly double the current ratio. They will be divided equally between the state, the private sector, and a mix of universities and sovereign bodies like the military.

Bakr also said efforts are ongoing to keep young doctors in Egypt and reduce bureaucracy and corruption. There will be “private-sector friendly initiatives and reforms, tax incentives and fast logistics [at the ports], among others,” said Bakr. “We are [communicating] with the private sector to know what they want from us.” 

However, he stressed Egypt is “still in the transition phase,” adding, “It will likely take 10 [more] years to clear it.”  

This article first appeared in June’s print edition of Business Monthly.