Armed guards, CCTV to be placed in Egyptian hospitals

Armed police officers and surveillance cameras are to be placed in every hospital in Egypt, the health minister has promised, pledging to prosecute doctors who go out on strike.

The statement comes amid a bitter dispute between the doctors’ union and the government over accusations that policemen attacked two doctors at a hospital in Cairo last month.

On 28 January two doctors at a hospital in the working-class Cairo district of Matareya - known as a hotspot for anti-government sentiment – say they were physically attacked and threatened by police officers who were seeking treatment there.

Nine low-ranking police officers have been questioned over the incident, but were released within 24 hours.

The union has threatened a partial strike, demanding the resignation of the health minister, Ahmed Emad al-Din Radhi, for failing to protect the safety of doctors.

The doctors’ union has also said it will provide services for free at public hospitals from 26 February until the men face court.

Radhi has hit back at the union’s decision, saying it was “inconsiderate” to the state.

“According to the…constitution, the money citizens pay in public hospitals goes directly to the state treasury and is allocated to improve services or used as bonuses for doctors," Radhi told the privately-owned CBC television channel on Monday, in his first public comments on the issue.

"I see the decision taken by the [doctors’ union] as inconsiderate to the state," he added.

In comments to the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper on Wednesday, Radhi promised that he would step up efforts to protect health workers in Egyptian hospitals.

“In truth, assaults on doctors are happening repeatedly, especially since the revolution [of 2011].

“I have started procedures to place surveillance cameras at central hospitals to record everything that goes on… We will also protect hospitals by stationing armed officers and superintendents there.

“This will be done in co-ordination with the Interior Ministry.

“I insist, too, that any doctor who abstains from work will be referred for investigation according to the laws of the Egyptian state.”