Egil went to high school in Bergen. He had decided early in life to become a physician and studied, in Münster, Germany, where he qualified as a doctor in 1970. During the time of his studies he also gained experience working on a biodynamic farm and a Camphill community in Wales. Thereafter he did his housemanship in the anaesthesiology department at Aarhus University Hospital and at Amtssygehus in Skanderborg, Denmark. It was in Denmark that he met his wife Kirsten and started a family of three children together with her in addition to becoming stepfather to her two oldest daughters.