Egyptian health officials warn against unapproved stem cell treatments advertised online

Health authorities in Egypt have restricted stem cell therapy to two hospitals amid a rise in unlicensed clinics promoting the treatments on social media.

• A Health Ministry source told Sky News that stem cell therapy is permitted only in two ministry hospitals for specific procedures, not for all diseases as advertised.
• Mansoura University operates Egypt's first public umbilical cord blood stem cell bank, which remains in the research phase.
• Mahmoud Fouad of the Egyptian Center for the Right to Medicine stated that stem cell treatment is still experimental globally and that unlicensed clinics have resumed operations after a previous closure.
• Dr. Osama Hamdi, an Egyptian diabetes specialist at Harvard, described claims of treating diabetes with pancreatic stem cell injections as "fraud and medical quackery" and warned that reducing insulin doses could cause fatal ketoacidosis.