Health tech start-ups geared to meet surging demand in Egypt

The healthcare industry in Egypt is poised for major disruption as the country is experiencing a wave of emerging health tech startups.

With a population of 100 million people, the emergence of health tech start-ups in Egypt gives a welcome boost for investment in the country’s medical system as they are specializing in every field in healthcare.

There are about 100 health care start-ups in Egypt specializing in every field in healthcare, which represents a jump from a few years ago.

As Egypt’s population has almost doubled since 1990, demand for healthcare has been surging over time, creating acute shortages of diagnostic services, medical specialists, and hospital beds.

According to a report by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank, the country will need to invest $10 billion in new hospital beds alone.

“Health care has been a very hot industry [and] the indicators are telling us there is still a lot of room for growth,” said Karim Awad, CEO of EFG Hermes, a Cairo-based investment bank. “Egypt is in need of better health care infrastructure, whether it is driven by the government or private sector. I think this is something that everyone is in agreement on.”

The government announced plans to implement universal health care coverage by 2032, which is expected to further fuel the sector’s growth.

In 2020, the World Bank injected $400 million towards universal health coverage in Egypt and private healthcare players are set to play a very important role for the country to meets its objectives by 2032.

Amr Alshakr, Chief information officer of Cleopatra Hospitals Group, one of Egypt’s largest private healthcare companies said, “Healthcare start-ups are a crucial source of innovation. The entrepreneur has the freedom of thinking outside of the box. They are not involved in the day-to-day routine, so they have the capability of seeing things from a different perspective.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged digitization everywhere, various health tech start-ups took the opportunity to test their ability to disrupt the status quo and improve patient care.

In recent years, Egypt has launched a series of reforms to support start-ups and spur private investments in health care.