Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centres in Cairo, Egypt

What is the public route to addiction treatment in Cairo?

The public route in Cairo runs through the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction, a national state fund that offers free and confidential treatment, according to Egyptian state media. It is not a city service: the fund’s hotline refers people in Cairo to its own treatment facilities or to partner facilities.

The Ministry of Health and Population, the national health ministry, also provides addiction care in its hospitals through the General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment, its psychiatric and addiction department. A ministry hospital in Cairo can explain its fees and admission steps directly.

How does the state addiction fund work for Cairo residents?

A Cairo resident, or a relative, contacts the state addiction fund’s hotline and is referred to a treatment facility, according to Egyptian state media. Care there covers medical treatment, psychological support, rehabilitation and social reintegration, and the fund follows up by phone after treatment ends, with no charge to the person.

The hotline is a domestic short code that works only from inside Egypt. Someone who wants to start without a referral can look at walk-in rehab, which is listed at about half of the rehabs in Cairo. Online treatment appears at some of them, which can keep sessions going once a person has returned home after a stay.

Do Cairo rehabs need a government license?

Yes. A Cairo facility that treats addiction as a mental health service needs a license from the Ministry of Health and Population, which runs for five years and requires a registered psychiatrist as manager. The ministry inspects facilities in Cairo and closes rehab facilities that operate without a license.

Licensing standards come from the National Council for Mental Health, a national body for psychiatric care, under Law No. 71, Egypt’s psychiatric care law. A rehab can show its license before admission.

What happens if a person in Cairo refuses treatment?

An adult in Cairo who refuses treatment generally cannot be admitted against their will. Law No. 71 allows involuntary admission only for a severe mental disorder, with a psychiatrist’s agreement and review by the public prosecutor, according to the law’s text, and that text does not name addiction.

Courts are a separate route: Law No. 182, the narcotics law, lets a judge order placement in a treatment facility in place of a penalty for drug use offenses. For people under 18, a parent or guardian requests examination and treatment, according to a reproduction of Law No. 71.

Who can see treatment records in Cairo?

Treatment records in Cairo are confidential under national law, according to reproductions of the legal texts. Law No. 71 protects the confidentiality of a person’s psychiatric medical file, and the Personal Data Protection Law, Law No. 151, classes mental, psychological and physical health data as sensitive personal data.

Families often call on someone’s behalf, so it helps to agree in writing who the rehab may share updates with.

What care do Cairo rehabs provide?

Cairo rehabs center on hospital care and detox, backed by outpatient sessions that often run in the evening. Evening treatment is listed at most of the rehabs in Cairo, residential treatment at about half and day treatment at about half as well.

Short-term rehab, weekend programs and sober living homes are each listed at some, and transfers between rehabs at about half.

How is rehab in Cairo paid for?

Most private rehab in Cairo is paid by the person or their family: self-pay is listed at nearly all of the rehabs in Cairo. The final cost depends on the level of care, how long the stay lasts, the room and whether detox takes place in a hospital.

Treatment arranged through the state addiction fund costs the person nothing, according to Egyptian state media. A private rehab can set out in writing what the stay includes, such as medical checks, therapy and family sessions.

Can I get methadone or other medication in Cairo?

Medication is part of nearly all rehab in Cairo: psychiatric medication and prescriber access are each listed at nearly all of the city’s rehabs. Opioid agonist treatment is being introduced in selected health ministry hospitals nationally, with United Nations support, according to the UN drugs office.

Nicotine and tobacco treatment, including smoking and vaping cessation, is listed at about half of the rehabs in Cairo.

Do Cairo rehabs treat teenagers and older adults?

Yes. Teen rehab is listed at nearly all of the rehabs in Cairo, with programs for both teen boys and teen girls, and senior rehab at most. Adult rehab is also listed at nearly all, so most Cairo rehabs take people across a wide age range.

Mental health crisis services are listed at most of the city’s rehabs, and care for Alzheimer’s and dementia at about half, which matters for older adults with memory problems.

Questions to put to a private rehab in Cairo

A short list of questions helps with private rehab in Cairo: can the facility show its Ministry of Health and Population license, which psychiatrist manages it, and is detox done on a hospital ward? A family arranging care should also ask how often relatives are updated and whether sessions run only in Arabic.

The length of a typical stay and the plan after discharge are worth having in writing. Aftercare is listed at some of the rehabs in Cairo.

Coming to Cairo for rehab

Most people flying in for rehab in Cairo arrive at Cairo International Airport, which handles international flights and lies 10.2 miles from the city center in a straight line. Imbabah Airport is the closest listed airfield, at 3.6 miles, and Giza Sphinx International Airport is 21.4 miles away.

Whether a visitor needs a visa depends on nationality, and Egypt’s official e-Visa portal offers tourism visas to nationals of the countries it lists. The portal says nothing about medical visas or stay length, so the Egyptian embassy or consulate at home can say whether a stay of 30 to 90 days fits a tourist entry. Rehab near major airports is listed across the region.

The hill of Al Jabal al Ahmar rises 3.1 miles from the center, and a lake with a bathing beach, Buhayrat Ayn as Sirah, lies 3.7 miles away. At least 25 hospitals are within 10 miles of the center. Rehab near lakes can be searched too.

Is addiction help in Cairo available in languages other than Arabic?

Help in languages other than Arabic is limited in Cairo, where Arabic is the treatment language at nearly all of the listed rehabs and no other language is widely listed. Someone without Arabic can ask a rehab whether a psychiatrist or therapist can work in their language, or arrange an interpreter before admission.

Alcoholics Anonymous World Services lists a contact resource for Egypt in its worldwide directory, which can point to local mutual-aid meetings. Rehab is also listed in Morocco, Mauritius and South Africa.

Which numbers should I save in Cairo?

Save 123 for an ambulance in Cairo and 122 for the police, because Egypt has no single number for every emergency service. The fire service is on 180, and the tourist police, who help visitors with problems, are on 126. Inside Egypt, the state addiction fund also runs a free hotline.

Rehab elsewhere on the continent is listed on the Africa page.