(MENAFN- Daily News Egypt) Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, has ordered the formation of a committee to regulate the licensing of private mental health facilities.

The move comes as the government seeks to improve access to mental health services amid rising demand. A committee will be tasked with developing a unified licensing system for private psychological centres, according to a statement released Monday following a meeting of the National Council for Mental Health.

The committee, which will include representatives from the Medical Syndicate, the Central Administration for Non-Governmental Therapeutic Institutions and Licensing, the National Council for Mental Health, and the private sector, will also establish controls for automating private facilities and registering patients on a centralised system.

Abdel Ghaffar emphasised the importance of using artificial intelligence to analyse patient data for medical and educational purposes while ensuring strict privacy and confidentiality.

The minister also highlighted the need for stricter regulations for psychologists, including mandatory training in the latest scientific methods.

The National Council for Mental Health will be designated as an accredited body to provide psychotherapy training for non-psychiatrist psychotherapists, in collaboration with the Fund for Combating and Treating Addiction and Drug Abuse, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesperson for the ministry, explained.

Egypt currently has 223 mental health facilities with a total capacity of 11,628 beds, according to the ministry's official spokesperson. The capacity for treating addiction stands at 1,747 beds in government facilities and 4,508 beds in private facilities.

In the past year, 55,057 cases were admitted to psychiatric treatment facilities, with 19,528 in government facilities and 35,529 in private facilities. A total of 51,673 patients were discharged, including 18,564 from government facilities and 33,109 from private ones.

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