Just recently, this past January, Dr. Essam Sharaf, former Prime Minister, Dr. Ali El Selmi, former Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Badran, President of the Science Academy and Ambassador Mohamed Rabi’a, Head of the Economic Union of the Arab League visited children in Hospital 57357. The children in Hospital 57357 and their families welcomed the delegation with applause and small flower bouquets.
Dr. Sharaf lectured on “Science, the Dream, and the New Egypt” in the auditorium stating that the future of Egypt must be based on science and culture, and that science must be rooted in ethics. Dr. Sharaf mentioned the success of Hospital 57357 is measured by the quality of care it is providing free of charge, which contributes to fulfilling one basic human right, that is the right of sick children to medical care which is offered freely, qualitatively and without discrimination.
Dr. Sherif Abou El Naga, Vice President of the Hospital for Research and Outreach, accompanied by Dr. Sharaf, explained that the main purpose for establishing Hospital 57357 was to raise cure rates for pediatric cancer in Egypt, towards reaching those achieved in the developed world estimated at 80% to 85%. He added that presently, the hospital’s statistical records indicate that over-all pediatric cancer cure rates are between 65% and 70%. When looking at the different types of cancer, cure rates record 80% in Lymphomas, 77.6% in Leukemia, and 59% in brain tumors.
Prior to the establishment Hospital 57357, the latter type of cancer (brain tumors), cure rates were close to nil, revealed Dr. Abouel Naga. Dr. Abou El Naga was keen to inform the audience about the Hospital’s participation in various awareness campaigns with respect to smoking hazards and the importance of healthy nutrition within the framework of the WHO’s recent affirmation that 30% of cancer incidences result from smoking and another 30% from unhealthy nutrition.
Revealing the Hospital’s future expansion plans, the VP of the Hospital informed the audience of the upcoming opening of the 57357 Tanta Branch, adding an additional 60 beds to the present hospital capacity of 180 beds and the establishment of a new 240 bed building on a piece of land directly next to Hospital 57357. He concluded by thanking Dr. Essam Sharaf for his role in obtaining the required approvals to increase the height of the new building and talked about the potential involvement of Hospital 57357 in the Nile Basin Countries’ initiative. This initiative was supported by the former Prime Minister and aims at catering to patients from these African States and to contributing to the training of their physicians and nurses.
