Higher education minister: Scientific research budget is only 3 billion EGP

Cairo- Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar revealed that the budget allocated for scientific research does not exceed three billion EGP, while it should be 28 billion EGP, according to Egypt’s constitution.

He added, during the meeting of parliament’s Committee of Education and Scientific Research, that the universities’ hospitals provide treatment to over 16 million patients all over the country. He added that 75% of surgeries conducted by doctors are held within them. He revealed that private funds provide 36% of patient spending.

He continued, saying that the ministry had no program for the budget during the current year, blaming the current economic conditions, saying that the budget of the coming year will be presented upon programs and a time-table.

He stressed that the resources of Egypt’s universities meet only 25% of their needs, saying that the major challenge they face is the increasing wages estimated at 20 billion EGP.  He emphasized that the governmental decision to liberate exchange rate strongly affected the sector of universities’ hospitals.