Shortages in medical supplies delivered through Egypt’s Unified Procurement (UPA) system forced patients to purchase their own equipment from outside facilities, former Qena General Hospital director told Al Manassa on Thursday, days after the Qena governor dismissed him following a surprise inspection citing “deteriorating health conditions.”
“The shortcomings in the hospital were forced upon me, not a choice… and the shortage of supplies was beyond my control,” Qena General Hospital director and head of the local Medical Syndicate Mohamed El-Deeb told Al Manassa regarding governor Maj. Gen. Dr. Mostafa El-Beblawy’s findings during the visit.
El-Deeb explained that the hospital faced severe operational challenges linked to supply deficits, dilapidated infrastructure, and limited resources.
The governor’s surprise field inspection last Tuesday highlighted several visible deficiencies, including patients sleeping on floor mats in internal hallways and citizens forced to buy medicine and supplies externally. The governorate also cited issues regarding sanitation and staff attendance in outpatient clinics before officially announcing El-Deeb's dismissal.
A video published by the governorate on its official Facebook page showed the faces of several patients and medical personnel inside the facility. Governor El-Beblawy appeared publicly criticizing hospital leadership over what he characterized as an absence of physicians from clinics at the start of his tour.
Systemic supply chain breakdown
El-Deeb detailed to Al Manassa how the hospital determines its quarterly pharmaceutical and medical equipment needs based on average consumption rates over the preceding three months.
These requisitions are uploaded to the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement (UPA) platform, which contracts commercial suppliers to deliver the requested goods.
The crisis emerges, El-Deeb explained, when vendors deliver quantities well below actual hospital demand or delay shipments altogether, creating acute deficits in essential supplies.
When items remained unavailable through both the UPA platform and Ministry of Health emergency stocks, hospital administration was forced to instruct patients to purchase supplies from outside pharmacies so surgeries and treatment regimens would not suffer delays.
El-Deeb attributed these irregular supply lines to massive, unresolved corporate debts across the state health sector. His statements align with broader systemic failures in Egypt's drug procurement network.
In February 2025, an Al Manassa investigation revealed that the UPA owed approximately 17.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($360 million) to distributors Misr Pharma and Pharma Overseas for pharmaceutical goods delivered to state facilities.
Accumulated debts led several companies to halt shipments, triggering widespread shortages of essential drugs and medical consumables across government hospitals.
Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly has repeatedly addressed corporate dues owed to pharmaceutical and supply companies during cabinet meetings amid government promises to settle outstanding liabilities.
A September 2025 report published by Mada Masr also noted that presidential directives subsequently curtailed the UPA’s authority, stripping its purchasing monopoly and restricting its role to regulatory oversight.
Since its establishment in 2019, the UPA served as the sole procurement agency for state entities, levying up to a 7% fee on purchases. The report linked this policy shift to escalating operational crises, notably accumulated liabilities exceeding 40 billion Egyptian pounds owed to medical suppliers.
Severe payment delays crippled suppliers’ capacity to manufacture, import, and deliver goods, directly causing shortages in state hospitals.
In response, an official source at the Qena Health Affairs Directorate, speaking to Al Manassa on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of their position, denied that El-Deeb’s statements reflected negligence by the directorate. The source asserted that the directorate routinely intervenes to supply essential medicines and equipment whenever shortages arise.
However, the directorate source added that monitoring committees had previously documented administrative failures under El-Deeb's leadership. These included forcing patients to buy supplies externally despite management failing to take effective steps to secure provisions or boost its self-generated emergency fund, which allows for direct emergency purchases.
The source stated that El-Deeb was referred for administrative investigation immediately prior to the governor’s visit based on violations logged by directorate teams, adding that findings from the governor’s tour would be added to the ongoing probe.
Decaying physical infrastructure
Beyond supply failures, El-Deeb attributed a significant portion of operational challenges to decaying physical infrastructure. Constructed in 1970, the facility requires comprehensive modernization to accommodate growing patient volumes that far exceed its physical capacity.
He noted that the building’s electrical, water, and sewage networks require major overhauls, adding that formal requests detailing these needs were repeatedly submitted to the governorate, the Ministry of Health, and the Health Directorate.
Two months ago, the Faculty of Engineering at South Valley University drafted a technical assessment for the Ministry of Health to upgrade the hospital’s main electrical panel. However, implementation required a complete evacuation of the building, bringing renovation efforts to a standstill.
Official documents reviewed by Al Manassa confirm the structural severity. A letter issued by the Central Directorate for Engineering Affairs and Equipment at the Ministry of Health, dated June 15, 2026, cited an inspection report from April 22, 2026, which concluded that “renovation efforts at the hospital are inviable due to the age of the structure and its dilapidated condition.”
The report also highlighted “widespread cracking in structural concrete elements and severe corrosion of reinforcing steel,” noting that renovation costs approached full reconstruction expenses and recommending the complete demolition and rebuilding of the facility.
Regarding facility cleanliness, El-Deeb stated that the contracted sanitation firm operates under agreements managed directly by the Health Directorate, noting that hospital management had repeatedly submitted official memos detailing service deficiencies, resulting in financial penalties and deductions against the vendor under established regulations.
On-the-ground incidents vs. operational realities
The source at the Health Affairs Directorate emphasized that Qena General Hospital employs roughly 40% of the governorate’s total physician workforce, arguing that manpower shortages cannot justify the deficiencies observed.
The source noted that during the opening hours of the visit, the governor found the emergency reception area in complete darkness and several doctors absent from their posts.
The governor also addressed a grievance from a mother regarding delayed surgery for her son; while the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health clarified that the case was non-emergency, the patient had remained without surgery from Friday until Tuesday after missing two operating schedules.
El-Deeb disputed the governor’s claim regarding empty outpatient clinics, insisting they functioned normally. He specified that the surgical clinic was staffed by two specialist physicians and a resident doctor—meeting standard staffing protocols—and explained that medical staff rotate between clinics and inpatient wards based on clinical demand.
Defending his management track record, El-Deeb noted that he has directed Qena General Hospital since 2015, supervising the introduction of key clinical departments, including adult and pediatric intensive care units, a cardiac catheterization unit, and an endoscopy unit.
He stated that adult intensive care expanded from three beds to 30 beds, 15 of which were funded and equipped through civil society support.
However, the Health Directorate source countered that the cardiac catheterization unit remains non-operational, adding that this issue—along with other findings—is subject to ongoing administrative accountability reviews.
Medical Syndicate takes a stand
The Egyptian Medical Syndicate intervened in the dispute, issuing a statement condemning what it saw as the public reprimand and summary dismissal of the hospital director by Governor El-Beblawy.
The syndicate warned against scapegoating individual hospital directors for systemic healthcare failures and filed an official complaint against the governor with Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, Minister of Health and Population Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, and Minister of Local Development Manal Awad.
The syndicate demanded an immediate formal investigation, emphasizing that public accountability must adhere to administrative and legal channels rather than being driven by “media showmanship” or photo opportunities.
It further asserted that filming the governor’s inspection inside clinical spaces violated Ministry of Health directives prohibiting photography in medical facilities, stressing that executive officials must lead by example in respecting state regulations.
Tarek Mansour, legal committee rapporteur and disciplinary board member at the General Doctors Syndicate, told Al Manassa that broadcasting video depicting identifiable faces of patients and medical staff violates patient confidentiality laws and hospital photography regulations.
In January 2021, the Office Sector of the Minister of Health and Population issued a strict directive to all public health facilities, laboratories, and ambulance services enforcing a complete ban on photography “in all forms” to protect patient privacy and safeguard healthcare workers.
