FILE - President Abdel Fatah al-SisiCAIRO - 15 December 2018: President Sisi commented on the results of screening for hepatitis C and chronic diseases giving advice to citizens and highlighting costs.“That means that the majority of those who got screened have a problem. The treatment targets on average 10,000 patients per month. Since the costs would surpass the allocated budget, we would seek alternative ways of funding.On a side note, the president stressed the importance of decreasing birth rates to reach the replacement rate.The results of screening for chronic diseases identified 5,3 million diabetes patients, and 3.6 million hypertension patients. It is estimated that 21 percent of the population suffer from hypertension.Moreover, the screening revealed that 877,000 citizens are at risk of becoming diabetes patients. The total number of citizens diagnosed with hepatitis C is 732, 732 and they started to receive treatment.

Source: Egypt Today December 15, 2018 13:30 UTC