Algeria Info
Joined: 23 Feb 2007
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Home Country: algeria
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 Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 6:53 am Post subject: HEALTHCARE IN ALGERIA / ALGERIA HOSPITAL GUIDE |
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HEALTHCARE IN ALGERIA
GENERAL
Socialism has given Algeria a comprehensive series of social welfare programmes for the impoverished, elderly and disabled members of society as well as benefits for labourers. Public housing and agricultural reform programmes have also been implemented for the benefit of the people.
At independence the Algerian health care system was skeletal, consisting of one physician per 33,000 people (or an estimated 300 doctors in all) and one trained paramedic per 40,000. The approach at the time was primarily curative rather than preventive.
Since then the country has made tremendous progress in health care. From 1975 onward, a new system of almost free national health care was introduced. Hospitalisation, medicines, and outpatient care were free to all. In 1984 the government formally adopted a plan to transform the health sector from a curative system to a preventive one more suited to the needs of a young population. Rather than investing in expensive hospitals, the government emphasized health centres and clinics, together with immunization programs. The results were impressive: whereas the infant mortality rate was 154 per 1,000 live births in 1965, it had fallen to sixty-seven per 1,000 live births by 1990.
In 1993 most health services were provided by the public sector, although a small private sector comprising some 20 percent of Algerian physicians also existed. A network of hospitals and ambulatory facilities was organised into health districts. The districts consisted of a general hospital, one or more urban and rural maternity centres, health care centres, and dispensaries. These facilities were complemented by specialised clinics and teaching hospitals. Three regional public pharmaceutical enterprises oversaw the wholesale purchase and distribution of drugs, a public company imported and maintained medical equipment, and a number of pharmaceutical units produced a limited quantity of serums, vaccines, and other drugs.
Expenditures for this health care system increased at an annual average rate of 14 percent during the 1980s. Estimates for health services expenditures were 5.4 percent of Algeria's gross domestic product, compared with a 5.2 percent average for countries with similar middle income, and 7.2 percent for some of the lower income Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Funding came from the state budget (20 percent), the social security system (60 percent), and individual households (20 percent).
Tuberculosis, trachoma, and venereal infections were the most serious diseases; gastrointestinal complaints, pneumonia, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and mumps were relatively common, as were waterborne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and hepatitis among all age-groups. Tuberculosis was considered the most serious health hazard, and trachoma ranked next; only a small minority of the population was entirely free from this fly-borne eye infection, which was directly or indirectly responsible for most cases of blindness. Malaria and poliomyelitis, both formerly endemic, had been brought under control. The incidence of disease was related to nutritional deficiencies, crowded living conditions, a general shortage of water, and insufficient knowledge of personal sanitation and modern health practices.
Despite the threat of oversupply of medical personnel, a small percentage of foreigners has always practiced in Algeria. They come from France, Russia, Eastern Europe, and Vietnam. Their number, however, is declining rapidly. In 1986 there were 1,724 specialised physicians, 241 general practitioners, eight pharmacists, and nineteen dental surgeons who were not Algerian; by 1990 only 767 specialized physicians, sixty-seven general practitioners, one pharmacist, and ten dental surgeons who were not Algerian remained in Algeria.
DIRECTORY OF HOSPITALS & CLINICS
Clinique Al Azhar
Djenane Achabou No. 4
Dely-Ibrahim
16020
Algeria
Tel: + 213 21 91 73 96
Fax: + 213 21 91 74 29
Mustapha Pacha Hospital
Place du 1 Mai
Algiers
Algeria
Tel: + 213 2 67 33 33 |
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