The Suez Medical Association President, Mohammed Salameh, announced on Monday that the demonstration outside of the Suez General Hospital on Sunday was not a patient-led protest, but an attempt by “some political parties that seek to distort the image of doctors in Egypt.”
Exactly which groups could be behind such an attempt Salameh could not say, but he said that all emergency medical services were still operational and patients had nothing to worry about.
The association held a meeting on Monday in anticipation of the General Assembly of Egyptian Physicians on Friday, where they will present their position on behalf of all the striking doctors in Suez. Salamah said the meeting on Friday will revolve around the future of the doctors’ strike, as well as the current Ministry of Health budget.
Doctors have been on strike across Egypt since the start of October demanding 12 to 15 per cent of the federal budget be allocated for health, as opposed to the current five per cent. Doctors are also demanding a new wage law which would guarantee a minimum salary of EGP 3,000 per month and improved hospital security in light of an increasing number of attacks on hospitals. The strike was announced by the Doctors’ Syndicate, who called on government doctors to fill in for emergency services.
