GE Healthcare has signed a deal with the Egyptian government to supply more than 200 Egyptian hospitals with a variety of technologies, while also providing training to 1,200 doctors, technicians and nurses in the use of that equipment.

The delivery of 700 units, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, is worth a total of $25.8 million. GE Healthcare has already distributed 400 units to Ministry of Health hospitals, according to the statement. Overall, 14,400 GE Healthcare technologies are presently in place in health care facilities throughout Egypt.

Calling the deal an opportunity “to elevate the quality and availability of health care services” in the country, Tamer Said, regional leader for GE Healthcare for North East Africa, noted that the goal was to bring “GE Healthcare’s advanced capabilities and solutions to Egypt with speed and efficiency,” adding that “we are committed to providing training to help build local know-how and expertise of health care professionals, to maximize the full features and benefits of these technologies to support clinicians in improving patient outcomes.”

The technologies scheduled for delivery include: Discovery IQ PET/CT, used for oncology, neurology and cardiology; cSound, a new imaging platform that boosts the quality of cardiovascular ultrasounds; SIGNA Explorer MR; and the Carestation 620, a compact anesthesia system.

According to the World Health Organization, noncommunicable diseases, which these technologies will help combat, have been estimated to cause 82 percent of all deaths and 67 percent of premature deaths in the country.

In March 2016, GE inked a partnership with Egypt's Ministry of Health that included work on a Biomed Center for Excellence.

In other joint efforts between the company and Egypt, GE announced last August that it was providing Kasr El Ainy Hospital in Cairo with 32 CARESCAPE B650 monitors, two B40i monitors and two Clinical Information Center (CIC) Pro patient monitors, in addition to 15 CARESCAPE R860 ventilators, “which combine the latest technologies in respiratory care and patient monitoring with expert tools to help doctors provide tailored therapy for their patients,” according to a company statement.

Expressing his pride in “working with Kasr El Ainy Hospital to provide technologies that can help reduce the mortality and disability rates of patients in Egypt,” GE's Said added that, “by providing our latest technologies to the hospital and training to health care professionals to use them, we are strengthening our long-standing relationship with the hospital.”

In March, GE announced another deal in Egypt when it supplied Nile Scan & Labs with its Discovery IQ PET/CT.

"We’re proud to partner with GE, one of the world’s leading providers of health care technology, to introduce this new PET/CT generation to Egypt,” Dr. Tarek Moharram, CEO, Nile Scan & Labs, said in a statement. “If we can give Egypt’s clinicians a more accurate and reliable solution to determine whether the treatment is working or not at an earlier stage, they will be able to better treat patients."

Previously, in 2000, Nile Scan & Labs installed GE’s first digital mammography system in Egypt. “By providing our GE Discovery IQ PET/CT to the lab, we are further stressing our commitment to strive for a healthier Egypt, and make a positive impact in the community,” GE's Said noted at the time.

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