{"id":17197,"date":"2025-11-24T11:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T09:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=17197"},"modified":"2026-10-07T21:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T19:17:52","slug":"al-khankah-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/al-khankah-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Khanka Hospital: Beds Left Unused for Years While Patients Struggle to Find Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

Egypt\u2019s Health Ministry has intensified inspections of private addiction-treatment and psychiatric centres, announcing the closure of 112 facilities in five governorates during the first half of the year.<\/p>\n

Separate ministry announcements described closures including 12 centres in Kerdasa, Giza; 16 in Cairo\u2019s Mokattam district; eight in Abu al-Numros; 25 across Cairo and Giza; five in Tenth of Ramadan City, Sharqia; and ten in Alexandria, Aswan and Assiut. The announcements cover different campaigns and should not be read as a single additional total.<\/p>\n

Official statements said operators were referred to prosecutors. Violations included operating without licences, management by unqualified personnel, medicines of unknown origin or past their expiry dates, and failures in infection control and safety. The ministry said some centres were run by non-doctors, including people recovering from addiction, putting patients at risk.<\/p>\n

In late August, footage of residents escaping<\/a> from an addiction-treatment facility in Mokattam spread online. The Interior Ministry said the centre was unlicensed, its operators had been arrested and it had been closed in coordination with the relevant authorities.<\/p>\n

The incident raised questions about where patients from unlicensed facilities could receive treatment. Fees at public psychiatric and addiction hospitals have risen, while available beds remain insufficient for demand.<\/p>\n

A 2020 official survey<\/a> reported drug use at 5.9% and addiction at 2.4%. Amr Othman, director of the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction, said the share of patients seeking treatment because of synthetic drugs rose from 8% in 2020 to around 50% in 2025.<\/p>\n

Health Ministry figures cited in this report put the General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment\u2019s inpatient capacity at approximately 6,660 beds, with 5,616 operational. Its hospital directory lists Khanka as the largest, with 1,804 beds, followed by Abbasiya with 1,069 and Helwan with 331. The remainder are distributed among hospitals across the governorates.<\/p>\n

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Internal hospital records obtained by Zawia3 tell a more complicated story. A September 2024 statement listed 1,780 beds at Khanka, of which 61 in Ward 21 and 36 in addiction departments were under maintenance, leaving 1,683 operational beds.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The same statement recorded 80 empty beds out of 132 in addiction rehabilitation, 61 out of 65 in detoxification, ten in the harm-reduction unit and 23 in dual diagnosis. It also listed 428 empty beds and 1,352 occupied beds across a total of 1,780.<\/p>\n

A daily report dated 3 September 2025 still referred to beds under maintenance in Ward 21 and addiction departments and again gave an operational figure of 1,683. It recorded 1,308 inpatients and 472 empty beds, while also citing a total capacity of 1,783. The patient and empty-bed figures add to 1,780, rather than 1,783 or 1,683, leaving a discrepancy between the recorded totals and the operational figure.<\/p>\n

The departmental figures quoted in the report include 544 in the free men\u2019s section, 79 in the voluntary economy section for men, 171 in the compulsory economy section, 132 in addiction rehabilitation, 65 in detoxification, 14 in harm reduction, 55 in dual diagnosis, 30 in the women\u2019s economy section and 690 in the judicial-placement wards. These figures do not reconcile with the stated inpatient total and cannot safely be combined as a single occupancy breakdown.<\/p>\n

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Maintenance delays leave beds out of service<\/h2>\n

A medical source at Khanka tells Zawia3 that more than 150 beds in the premium building and dual-diagnosis department are empty but unavailable because of unresolved sewage and bathroom problems. The source says successive hospital and secretariat administrations have failed to address them.<\/p>\n

Ward 21, the source adds, has been out of service for 18 years, with around 70 beds unusable because renovation work stopped.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is an entire building with about 120 empty beds because the bathrooms do not work, and it has been like that for six or seven years,\u201d the source says. \u201cAnother building, with space for about 60 beds, is unused, while many departments have empty places.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The source distinguishes these from the judicial-placement wards, which remain crowded and receive patients under judicial orders. Patients there undergo periodic assessment to determine whether discharge is appropriate.<\/p>\n

Leaving other beds unavailable for years has denied admission to people needing psychiatric or addiction treatment, the source says, while relatives have been told there are no vacancies. The source describes the failure to complete maintenance as a waste of public resources.<\/p>\n

Before the recent fee changes, monthly accommodation charges began at EGP 750, with other categories costing EGP 1,500\u20133,000. Under the new schedule, nightly charges range from EGP 150 to EGP 380 depending on the accommodation category.<\/p>\n

The medical source says Khanka has more than 1,100 nursing staff and over 100 psychiatrists, alongside contracted specialists in internal medicine, dermatology, radiology, physiotherapy and dentistry. Nevertheless, there are acute shortages of social workers, psychologists and administrative staff.<\/p>\n

Administrative personnel number around 54 or 55, the source estimates, with 23 or 24 social workers, some seconded from elsewhere, and only three or four psychologists. The source believes there have been no new social-work appointments for about 15 years, despite the need for psychological assessments, intelligence tests and therapy.<\/p>\n

A former administrative official, who requested anonymity, describes approximately 30 wards: ten within the secure judicial-placement section and around 20 elsewhere. Some secure wards have been renovated, while others remain in their old condition. The other departments occupy extensive grounds with large gardens.<\/p>\n

The former official says Ward 21 has been abandoned for around 20 years or more. In 2016, a contractor was preparing to replace tiles and renew drainage, utilities and bathrooms, but the work stalled and the ward remains closed.<\/p>\n

With more than 70 beds, the official argues, the ward could function as a small hospital in its own right. For comparison, the official cites a 76-bed hospital in Heliopolis and says staff are available to operate Ward 21 once work is completed.<\/p>\n

The dual-diagnosis department, Ward 4, spent seven years under development, the former official says. Its contractor died, another took over, and administrative problems caused repeated delays before it opened around two years ago. The official cites treatment costs of at least EGP 3,000\u20133,500, with further increases expected under the new fee schedule.<\/p>\n

Ward 21 was not originally an addiction-treatment ward, but could be adapted for women or adolescents, the official suggests. Inpatient places for people under 18 are scarce, with dedicated provision at Helwan and Abbasiya and possibly Maamoura. Families can struggle to secure admission even when a young person\u2019s life is at risk.<\/p>\n

The secretariat\u2019s hospital profile<\/a> dates Khanka\u2019s establishment to 1912 under Khedive Abbas Hilmi. Its original site covered 570 feddans, of which approximately 171 remain within the hospital\u2019s actual grounds. It joined the Health Ministry\u2019s central administration in September 1997 and the mental-health secretariat in January 1998.<\/p>\n

The directory describes 15 men\u2019s psychiatric wards outside the judicial-placement section, four men\u2019s addiction wards and one women\u2019s psychiatric ward, alongside ten judicial-placement wards. Outpatient services include psychiatry, addiction, harm reduction, viral infections, community medicine and disability assessment, as well as imaging, electrocardiography and electroconvulsive therapy.<\/p>\n

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Funding and the cost of admission<\/h2>\n

Mahmoud Fouad, head of the Right to Medicine Association and a former Khanka board member, says the hospital holds a substantial share of Egypt\u2019s psychiatric beds. He estimates that around 300 patients have recovered but remain because their relatives cannot be located or refuse to receive them.<\/p>\n

These patients continue occupying beds because the hospital cannot simply discharge them without arrangements for their care, he says.<\/p>\n

Families seeking addiction treatment can approach the drug-treatment fund, the Social Solidarity Ministry or hospitals under the mental-health secretariat. But Fouad says tests and examinations costing more than EGP 1,000 have become a barrier to admission, alongside limited beds and inadequate mental-health funding.<\/p>\n

He regards restricted health spending as a central cause of the crisis, leaving people vulnerable to exploitation. He also describes rapid, poorly regulated growth in private addiction centres. In al-Ayyat, he cites six unlicensed centres compared with four licensed ones; in al-Obour, five licensed and five unlicensed facilities.<\/p>\n

Fouad links demand to the spread of inexpensive synthetic drugs, including substances known as crystal, shabu and ice. He says drug use extends to university students and employees, citing workplace testing and large seizures as signs of the market\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n

He criticises private centres that employ unqualified workers and crowd patients into cramped rooms resembling cells, arguing that some operate primarily as profit-making businesses without effective oversight.<\/p>\n

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Escapes, theft allegations and inspection<\/h2>\n

Alongside maintenance problems, a source reports repeated thefts inside Khanka, attributing security weaknesses to too few guards and the advanced age of many staff. The source also points to previous patient escapes.<\/p>\n

On 10 February 2025, a patient reportedly escaped between 11am and 1pm during a power outage. The patient had been admitted on 13 January and diagnosed with schizophrenia and an intellectual disability, according to earlier press reports and a former hospital official interviewed by Zawia3.<\/p>\n

Newspaper archives record other escapes in 2008, 2012 and 2014. Three patients held in connection with criminal cases escaped in July 2008; two were returned with police assistance, while a third, admitted following a schizophrenia diagnosis in a 2005 murder case, remained at large at the time of those reports.<\/p>\n

In August 2012, a 31-year-old patient placed in Ward 9 by a South Giza court escaped. Nurses responsible for the ward were accused of contributing to the escape, which was recorded in police report No. 971 of 2012. Another patient, placed at Khanka following an Alexandria appellate court order in an attempted-murder case, escaped in March 2014.<\/p>\n

Sources say a surprise inspection on 21 August 2025 was led by Peter Wagih, assistant health minister for curative affairs and supervisor of the central mental-health administration. They say he criticised the hospital\u2019s management during the visit.<\/p>\n

Local newspapers also reported a theft<\/a> in August from a warehouse used by the hospital\u2019s catering contractor. Food intended for patients, reportedly worth EGP 250,000\u2013300,000, was missing from premises rented from the hospital and guarded by a contracted security company.<\/p>\n

The mental-health secretariat separately announced instructions from Deputy Health Minister Mohamed al-Tayeb to strengthen staffing in anaesthesia and internal medicine, increase pharmacists, nurses and dentists, and provide modern equipment, furnishings and strategic stocks of medicines and supplies.<\/p>\n

The instructions also called for infrastructure improvements and faster digital transformation, including a unified medical record across psychiatric hospitals.<\/p>\n

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A history of complaints<\/h2>\n

On 24 April 2025, Egyptian Social Democratic Party MP Sanaa al-Saeed submitted a parliamentary question to the deputy prime minister and health minister about what she described as administrative instability at Khanka.<\/p>\n

She questioned the mental-health secretariat\u2019s response and the National Council for Mental Health\u2019s oversight, called for urgent intervention to protect patients and asked the House of Representatives\u2019 health committee to examine the matter.<\/p>\n

The hospital has faced serious allegations before. Following the deaths of ten patients held under judicial orders between 1 and 10 August 2015, the Administrative Prosecution referred 34 hospital personnel for trial<\/a> over alleged gross negligence.<\/p>\n

Those referred included a former director, two deputy directors, four doctors, nursing managers and staff, and patient-affairs employees. The referral reflected the severity of the allegations; it was not itself a final determination of each person\u2019s liability.<\/p>\n

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Development plans and patients still waiting<\/h2>\n

A National Council for Human Rights delegation visiting in May 2023 recommended continued infrastructure development. In August 2024, Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar directed officials to prepare plans to transform Khanka into an integrated medical city for mental health, addiction treatment and older people.<\/p>\n

The proposed complex would have 1,800 beds: 300 for general curative and preventive services and 1,500 for mental-health care, alongside two linear accelerators for cancer treatment. The minister also requested a study for an emergency hospital so patients could receive advanced services without transfer elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Presidential instructions subsequently called for expanded mental-health facilities, support for state-funded treatment, construction of Sakina Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Hospital in New Alamein, accelerated development at Khanka and extended-stay centres for patients, older people and people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Yet closures of unlicensed centres and development announcements have not resolved the pressures described by patients\u2019 advocates and hospital sources: beds unavailable because of maintenance, shortages of specialist staff, higher treatment costs and longstanding administrative problems.<\/p>\n

As demand for addiction treatment grows, patients remain caught between an inadequately regulated private sector and a public system struggling to make its existing resources available. Their access to safe, sustained care depends on turning inspection and development commitments into working services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hospital records and staff accounts reveal idle beds, stalled maintenance and specialist shortages at one of Egypt\u2019s largest psychiatric hospitals, as families struggle to secure treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[413],"tags":[],"kateb":[1550],"class_list":["post-17197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-en","kateb-aya-yasser"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/\u0627\u0644\u062e\u0627\u0646\u0643\u0629-.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17197","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=17197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17198,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17197\/revisions\/17198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17197"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=17197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}