Tunisia - A small cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kamel Madouri on Tuesday dealt with a number of issues related to the health sector and health care.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Ministry, the Cabinet approved nine urgent decisions, namely:

- Immediately increasing the financial resources of Tunisia's Central Pharmacy by allocating additional funds in addition to the monthly transfers from the National Health Insurance Fund.

- Ensuring the deduction and transfer of outstanding Social Fund contributions to a number of public bodies so that the Central Pharmacy and public health bodies can be paid.

- Adopting a set of mechanisms and measures to improve the governance and management of the pharmaceutical system.

- Strengthening coordination between the Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance Fund to develop, through a joint technical committee, conditions and procedures for the provision of health services in accordance with optimal standards and best practices adopted internationally.

- Establishing a unified committee to set the prices of medicines on a regular basis under the supervision of the National Agency for Medicines and Health Materials, with the participation of the relevant ministries.

- Commissioning a comprehensive review of the health insurance system, based on the evaluation studies carried out and the opinions and proposals of the parties involved in the system.

- Establishing a steering committee composed of representatives of the Prime Ministry, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Social Affairs and health professionals to develop a system to increase the attractiveness of public health structures, optimise the use of medical skills and equipment, and provide decent working conditions for medics and paramedics to ensure their motivation and maintain the authority of the public sector.

- Continuing to strengthen governance mechanisms, achieve comprehensive digital transformation, intensify monitoring and improve the efficiency of actions at the level of public health structures.

- Accelerating the submission of the draft order on the system of electronic data exchange between the National Health Insurance Fund and health care providers in the public and private sectors, and creating all conditions for the universalisation of the electronic treatment card after its distribution to social security institutions has been completed.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of implementing the constitutional provisions relating to the right to health, the safety and quality of treatment services and the right to social protection.

This is «within the framework of renewed programmes and policies to ensure the rehabilitation of the public health sector and increase its efficiency and effectiveness, as instructed by the President of the Republic.»

The aim is to achieve universal health coverage for all Tunisians, as well as a radical overhaul of the health insurance system to ensure that people with social insurance have access to treatment services in accordance with the principles of equality of opportunity, quality of treatment, financial sustainability of the system and integration between the public and private health sectors, according to the statement.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Health Mustapha Ferjani, Minister of Finance Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia, Minister of Social Affairs Issam Lahmar, Minister of Trade and Export Development Samir Abid, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Mondher Belaid and Secretary of State to the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines in charge of Energy Transition Wael Chouchane.

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