{"id":16898,"date":"2026-06-12T20:53:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=16898"},"modified":"2026-10-07T04:27:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T02:27:16","slug":"poverty-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/poverty-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Reported Suicides in a Month Raise Questions About Egypt\u2019s Mental Healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article discusses suicide and self-harm in a journalistic context. If you are personally experiencing distress or a mental health crisis, please contact a mental health professional or a crisis support service in your country.<\/p>\n

Egypt has seen a number of reported deaths by suicide since the beginning of 2026. The Arabic report identifies seven incidents during April, including a woman in Smouha, Alexandria, a physiotherapist in Al Nozha, Cairo, and a veterinarian in Kafr Tohormos, Giza, whose reported medical history included obsessive-compulsive disorder.<\/p>\n

Other reports concerned a woman in Boulaq Al Dakrour, a young man in Cairo\u2019s Al Sahel district on 8 April, an older driver in Gheit Al Nasara, Damietta, on 4 April after repeated efforts to secure a pension, and a doctor in her thirties in Cairo\u2019s May district. These media-reported incidents are not a complete national count, nor do they establish a single explanation for any death.<\/p>\n

In January, Sharqia health undersecretary Ahmed Al Beily said Belbeis, Al Husseiniya and Al Ibrahimiya central hospitals had treated four people after suicide attempts, including a girl and a young man. Medical teams saved their lives.<\/p>\n

As incidents prompted public debate, the Health Ministry urged people to seek psychiatric care. But access remains a central question.<\/p>\n

Recent comprehensive statistics are unavailable. An older survey cited in the Arabic report, reported in 2018, found mental disorders among around 25 percent of Egyptians and a treatment figure of only 0.4 percent. Among disorders identified by that survey, depression accounted for 43.7 percent and substance-use disorders for 30.1 percent. These historical survey figures should not be treated as new 2026 population estimates.<\/p>\n

While official messaging stresses that mental health is part of public health, the cost of subsidised public mental health and addiction services increased under financial and administrative regulations introduced in August 2025.<\/p>\n

Private hospitals and centres have also become more expensive. The report cites licensed facilities charging EGP 3,500\u201310,000 per month, depending on condition, programme, accommodation and additional services. Such costs are beyond many households\u2019 means; it cites a minimum-wage comparison of EGP 8,000. These are the price and wage figures reported in the source at publication.<\/p>\n

The General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment operates 24 hospitals and specialist centres across 15 governorates. Official figures cited in the report record more than 624,000 outpatient medical services from January to October 2024 and more than 21,000 geriatric psychiatric services from January to November 2025. Service counts are not counts of unique patients.<\/p>\n

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Commissioners recommend partial annulment<\/h2>\n

A State Commissioners Authority report filed on 16 April 2026<\/a> intensified the debate over pricing and calls to revise the regulations. The commissioners\u2019 report is a recommendation to the Administrative Court, not itself a final judgment overturning the decision.<\/p>\n

The Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), which brought the case with the \u201cOur Fate Is One\u201d campaign, described the recommendation as supporting citizens\u2019 rights and hoped it would lead to a court judgment reconsidering the burdens on patients.<\/p>\n

The commissioners recommended accepting the case and partially annulling Health Minister\u2019s Decision No. 220 of 2025 insofar as it failed explicitly to provide free treatment for people unable to pay in emergencies or life-threatening cases, subject to facility capacity. They also recommended that the administrative authority bear costs.<\/p>\n

The recommendation treats physical and mental healthcare as a constitutional right that cannot depend on financial means in critical cases. It argues that the regulations failed to clearly cover both emergencies and danger to life, leaving open an unlawful restriction on treatment.<\/p>\n

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Capacity, rather than ability to pay, is the relevant constraint, the report argues. Its recommendation therefore concerns partial annulment of the omission, rather than an automatic abolition of every charge.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

ECESR director and lawyer Malek Adly says the centre represents guardians and relatives of patients alongside the campaign. Increases in public psychiatric treatment charges of up to around 330 percent, he says, created major burdens and uncertainty about involuntary admission and treatment of people unable to make decisions or pay.<\/p>\n

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Some families removed relatives from hospitals because they could not afford care, he says, and some cases ended tragically. He describes interruption of continuing treatment as a genuine risk to patients\u2019 lives, not a service that can simply be postponed or dispensed with.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The challenge does not oppose all service pricing, Adly stresses. It seeks a distinction between people able and unable to pay so that costs do not bar treatment. He hopes for a fair judgment and says an annulment would require the ministry to reconsider its regulations and prices.<\/p>\n

Case No. 86235 of judicial year 79 was brought before Cairo\u2019s Administrative Court on behalf of affected guardians and relatives and people working in or concerned with mental healthcare. Respondents included the health minister, the secretariat\u2019s secretary-general, the National Council for Mental Health chairman and the director of Abbasiya psychiatric hospital, in their official capacities.<\/p>\n

The regulations set accommodation charges at EGP 150\u2013550 per day depending on category, excluding medical and treatment services, compared with previous rates of EGP 5\u2013200. The Arabic text gives \u201c2020\u201d in one paragraph, but the decision identified by the case and its linked document is No. 220 of 2025.<\/p>\n

In a paper following the Smouha death, ECESR argued that awareness statements alone cannot address the economic, social and legislative roots of the crisis. Awareness must be accompanied by fair public policies, minimum social protection, relief from living pressures and effective family support.<\/p>\n

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The paper links low maintenance-payment ceilings at Nasser Social Bank and higher psychiatric treatment charges to women\u2019s and children\u2019s vulnerability. It calls for effective enforcement of judgments, maintenance reflecting economic conditions and affordable, equitable mental healthcare.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Higher charges threaten continuity of care<\/h2>\n

In September 2025, the Arab Foundation for Civil Society Support and Human Rights published a report recording 216 deaths by suicide during 2024. It suggested substantial undercounting because of limited transparency and absent official disclosure. Its claim that the actual number could exceed the recorded figure more than tenfold is an estimate by the organisation, not a verified national total.<\/p>\n

The report associated cases with economic and social pressures, mental disorders, family disputes, educational setbacks and delayed marriage. It identified ages 21\u201330 as the most represented group and males as about 65.7 percent of recorded cases. Such associations do not establish the causes of individual deaths.<\/p>\n

Dr Ahmed Hussein, coordinator of \u201cOur Fate Is One,\u201d a claimant in the case and a former Medical Syndicate council member, says the campaign brings together people concerned with the social, legal and economic effects of higher charges on continuity of psychiatric and addiction treatment.<\/p>\n

He considers mental health a national priority because some periods of acute illness can impair decision-making or daily functioning and affect patients and families. Severe depression, psychosis or suicidal crises may be life-threatening without appropriate care. This does not mean people with mental illness are generally dangerous.<\/p>\n

Hussein recalls the establishment of the mental health secretariat in 1997 and links it to the state\u2019s response after a violent incident involving a person reported to have a mental disorder. He describes the current pricing policy as a severe social setback and argues that untreated illness can cost the state more than treatment. His account of that historical connection is attributed to him.<\/p>\n

He cites international research suggesting untreated mental illness and addiction can cost two and a half times treatment. Lost productivity, time family members spend providing care, family disruption and, in some substance-use cases, criminal-justice costs all contribute, he argues. These are potential burdens rather than inevitable outcomes for every patient.<\/p>\n

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He says the earlier system offered 60 percent of beds free and 40 percent at paid economic or hotel categories, ranging from about EGP 5 to EGP 200 daily\u2014approximately EGP 150\u20136,000 over 30 days. After the change, the lowest accommodation rate was EGP 150 daily, or EGP 4,500 monthly. He cites some monthly stays costing EGP 11,500, while the regulation\u2019s EGP 550 upper daily rate would be EGP 16,500 over 30 days before treatment costs; categories and billed services should not be conflated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hussein says many patients left hospitals and did not return. He argues that the policy is economically short-sighted and was adopted without adequate input from specialists or those working on patients\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

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The economic case for treatment<\/h2>\n

A WHO-backed study published in The Lancet Psychiatry in April 2016<\/a> assessed the health and economic returns of expanding depression and anxiety treatment in 36 countries over 2016\u20132030. It projected treatment costs of USD 147 billion, improved productivity valued at USD 399 billion and health gains valued at USD 310 billion. WHO described returns of about four dollars for each dollar invested.<\/p>\n

The same announcement noted that common mental disorders affected 416 million people in 1990 and 615 million in 2013. A 2014 WHO Mental Health Atlas survey found average government mental health spending at three percent of health budgets, ranging from one percent in lower-income countries to five percent in higher-income countries. These are historical global findings, not current Egyptian budget measures.<\/p>\n

Article 18 of Egypt\u2019s Constitution recognises the right to health and comprehensive care meeting quality standards, commits at least three percent of GNP to government health spending with gradual increases, and requires comprehensive health insurance covering citizens and diseases.<\/p>\n

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Policies disconnected from patients\u2019 circumstances<\/h2>\n

Dr Irene Saeed, a parliamentary Health Committee member and head of the Reform and Development Party\u2019s parliamentary bloc, says she regularly disagrees with the Health Ministry when it raises healthcare charges. Healthcare is a constitutional right, particularly for people with limited means, she stresses.<\/p>\n

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With economic hardship contributing to distress, she says increasing psychiatric treatment prices appears disconnected from reality. She questions whether these services depend on dollar prices in the way the government explains rising imported medicines and supplies, and calls for the financial regulations to be reconsidered.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Feminist activist Elham Eidarous, a founding representative of the Bread and Freedom Party, which remains under formation, criticises the absence of reliable official mental-health statistics. She says she observes more people apparently experiencing mental distress or homelessness around her neighbourhood, but emphasises the need for scientific research rather than treating her observations as a national measure.<\/p>\n

Families unable to pay for long stays, chronic treatment or addiction care may be left without a treatment option, while wealthier people turn to expensive private providers, she says. Some people may consequently lose stable accommodation.<\/p>\n

Eidarous argues that lower public health spending and expanding private operation of facilities deepen the crisis, alongside shortages of psychiatrists and therapists. Poorer patients are particularly disadvantaged.<\/p>\n

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Women face additional stigma and reluctance to seek mental health or addiction treatment, she says. Women who are homeless or living with mental illness face hunger, insecurity and sexual or other violence, increasing their vulnerability.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Mental health as a public-policy priority<\/h2>\n

A Bread and Freedom paper submitted to the National Dialogue<\/a> argues that mental health is a necessity, not a luxury, and should be integrated into comprehensive health insurance. It links pressures on young people and women to gaps in protection and care, citing young people as roughly 21 percent of the population.<\/p>\n

The paper identifies staff shortages, doctors\u2019 emigration, unclear professional regulation of psychologists, poor coordination and unlicensed treatment centres as structural challenges. It connects these to reduced public spending and privatisation that restrict access for those most in need.<\/p>\n

It calls for greater investment, a national strategy spanning prevention, treatment and reintegration, trained staff and better financial and professional incentives. It proposes psychological support in schools, universities and workplaces, specialist units in hospitals and police stations, legal protection against violence\u2014especially against women\u2014and cooperation with civil society to widen equitable services.<\/p>\n

Repeated reported suicides and the debate over treatment costs show mental health as a social and economic issue rather than an isolated individual concern. As living pressures intensify and the gap between need and affordability widens, fairer public policies are urgently needed to make mental healthcare accessible to everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reported deaths and a legal challenge to higher public psychiatric treatment charges expose the gap between mental-health needs and families\u2019 ability to afford care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[413],"tags":[],"kateb":[728],"class_list":["post-16898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-en","kateb-shimaa-hamdy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/\u0627\u0643\u062a\u0626\u0627\u0628-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16899,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16898\/revisions\/16899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16898"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=16898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}