A medical report left in the wrong output tray. A scanned patient record still stored inside a multifunction device. A printer connected to the hospital network but missing from routine security oversight. None of these scenarios looks dramatic, but each can create a real data-security risk.
That matters more as Egypt’s healthcare system becomes increasingly digital. In November 2025, Egypt launched its National Digital Health Strategy 2025–2029. In August 2026, the government reported that around 6.7 million medical records had been digitised under the Universal Health Insurance System, while the system’s first phase covered around 334 healthcare facilities.
As more patient information moves electronically, security has to extend beyond applications and servers to every connected device that handles it. For HP, that includes the print environment.
The overlooked print-security gap
Printers and multifunction devices support everyday clinical workflows, handling prescriptions, lab reports, patient IDs, referrals, discharge papers, billing records and scanned information. The risk is not printing itself, but treating these devices differently from the rest of the technology estate.
Outdated firmware, weak administrative controls and broad network access can increase exposure. Stored data can create risk when equipment is reassigned or retired, while unattended printouts can expose patient information without any sophisticated cyberattack. In a hospital with devices spread across wards, labs, pharmacies and administrative areas, limited visibility can make those risks harder to manage.
At HP, we believe print security should be part of the same endpoint-security discipline applied across the organisation: know what is connected, control who can access it, keep devices current and protect the information they handle.
Egypt’s data-protection framework supports that direction without creating a printer-specific rule. The Personal Data Protection Law No. 151 of 2020 and Executive Regulations No. 816 of 2025 provide the relevant backdrop for electronically processed personal data, including sensitive health information. The regulations also refer to protecting data alongside the devices and media used in its collection and processing.
For healthcare leaders, the practical point is simple: if a device handles patient data, it should be visible, governed and protected as part of the wider technology environment.
GAHAR’s 2025 hospital accreditation standards reinforce that approach. IMT.05 addresses the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information, authorised access to health information and the privacy and cybersecurity of patient information. Print belongs within that same information-governance model.
Print security is endpoint security
The operational case is just as important as the regulatory one. A compromised or poorly managed device can create unnecessary exposure, disrupt workflows and add pressure to IT teams. Print security therefore needs the same fundamentals applied to other endpoints: visibility, secure configuration, access control and ongoing management.
That is why print should not sit in a separate security silo. It should be brought into the controls already used across the technology estate, with the same expectation of accountability, protection and oversight.
Healthcare IT teams should have clear visibility of connected devices, ownership, configuration and status. Administrative access should be restricted, unnecessary services disabled and firmware kept current. These are basic endpoint-security disciplines, but they are easy to miss when printers are treated primarily as office equipment.
Where devices retain sensitive information, organisations should use appropriate encryption and have clear processes for protecting or removing stored data when equipment is reassigned, returned or retired. Secure or identity-based print release can keep documents from being left unattended, while central management and logging can improve fleet-wide visibility and control.
This is also where print vendors have a responsibility. HP’s focus is to help organisations make print security easier to manage as part of a broader endpoint strategy, bringing together device-level protection, fleet visibility, secure print capabilities and central management in ways that support both security teams and day-to-day clinical operations.
Secure the full healthcare technology estate
Egypt’s healthcare transformation is creating a more connected, data-driven system, and security maturity has to develop alongside digital maturity. Modern multifunction printers are part of that environment: network-connected technologies capable of handling sensitive patient information and needing the same disciplined approach as other endpoints.
For hospital CIOs, CISOs and IT leaders, the priority is straightforward: bring print into the same security perimeter through asset visibility, access control, firmware management, appropriate encryption, secure print release and central oversight.
The local regulatory context provides useful direction, but the bigger issue is resilience. By treating print as part of the wider endpoint environment, healthcare organisations can reduce avoidable risk, support patient confidentiality and keep critical information moving. That is the role HP believes secure print should play in Egypt’s increasingly digital healthcare system.
By Peter Oganesean,
Managing Director, Middle East and East Africa, HP Inc.