A delegation from the Doctors Syndicate met with Health Minister Mohamed Mostafa Hamed on Monday to discuss securing hospitals against random acts of violence, as well as limiting the maximum wage within the Health Ministry to LE20,000 a month.
Abdel Fattah Rezq, the syndicate’s secretary general, said that the delegation demands a decree be issued that would require hospital managers to report all acts of violence against medical units and require the police force to secure all hospitals.
The ministry should establish a central operation room to monitor attacks on hospitals, form a task force to investigate these incidents and refer all suspects to the general prosecutor, Rezq continued.
The syndicate delegation also demanded that the ministry establish an administrative department that would oversee the supply of medical equipment and resources to emergency rooms, and create a database to keep track of the number of beds available at all hospitals at any given time to facilitate the intake and transfer of patients.
Rezq also mentioned the syndicate’s request to increase the budget of the Health Ministry to 15 percent of the state’s total budget.
The Doctors Syndicate also hopes to confer with officials from the ministries of justice, interior and health and the military to discuss viable mechanisms for keeping Egypt’s hospitals secure, Rezq continued.
Ahmed Lotfy, rapporteur for the syndicate’s information committee, said that the doctors held the meeting both to discuss their demands and congratulate the new health minister on his post. He added that they discussed the doctors’ proposed “expose the weakness of the police” campaign that was launched two weeks ago, in the hopes that the ministry would support it.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
