The Universal Healthcare Act will cost the state EGP 9 bn in the first year of implementation, said Vice Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait in a press conference on the law on Wednesday, Al Borsa reports. This will gradually be increased to EGP 600 bn by 2032 as the new healthcare system gets rolled out nationwide. Maait added that Port Said will be the first governorate which will see the new healthcare system rolled out, which will likely begin at the beginning of the 2018-19 fiscal year in July. Maait had previously said that the system will run on a EGP 10 bn deficit.

“The act comes as part of the government’s commitment to ensure government spending on healthcare meets the 3% of GDP target mandated by the constitution,” Finance Minister Amr El Garhy said at the conference, according to a ministry statement. He reiterated as well that the ministry will form a committee with the Social Solidarity Ministry and the state census bureau CAPMAS to determine the criteria for exemptions on paying premiums into the new system. These will be outlined in the executive regulations, which will reportedly start getting drafted this week. The act is expected to be signed into law early next year.