Djaouad Braham Bourkaib, Director General of Social Security at the Algerian Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, outline recent regulatory reform in the North African nation and the future of Algeria’s healthcare system.
What can you tell us about the Algerian national policy of health expense reimbursement?
We are acutely aware of the importance of explaining the process in detail to our partners right across the healthcare and life sciences spectrum. We understand that this kind of transparency and clarity is at first very much in the interest of patients and in that of the national social security and the national economy.
Algeria has been expanding the scope of its public health offering across all services related to drugs and medication. Over 14 million people now hold a CHIFA card, which is an electronic card for every socially insured person. Often, each household has one Chifa card covering all family members. As a result, more than 38 million people can actually benefit from national social insurance. Drugs are very much our strong suit, as we implemented a generalized third-party payment system under which patients do not pay a single penny when they go to their pharmacy especially whom are suffering from chronic illnesses, with some extremely minimal exceptions.
In concrete terms, a diabetic patient for example, can go to his pharmacy with his prescription, get the necessary drugs for 3 months of treatment worth thousands of dinars, and go back home without having to pay anything whatsoever. This is absolutely unique in the North African region
