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My name is Dr. Mohammed Shafik and I'm a specialist in neurological and psychiatric diseases at Manshiyet El Bakry hospital and a member of the media committee for the doctor's strike on October 1st.
We are here in Manshiyet El Bakry Hospital and thank God, this is the first day of the strike, which is 100 percent
All the clinics are closed and we are only taking in emergency cases and treating them all for free.
The rabies shots patients normally have to pay for, we're issuing for free today. We're treating emergency and reception patients and the nurseries, and internal departments are all functioning normally, only the out-patient clinics are closed.
Our requests are known. Official pay grades for all the medical organizations: doctors, nurses, physical therapy, dentists and pharmacists
and the health budget increased by 15 percent. We will not give up on better health care for the Egyptian citizen after the revolution.
The last thing is hospital security. There must be hospital security either via security guards or by providing the necessities for providing health services.
Dr. Saad Nasif, head of the ER at Manshiyet El Bakry Hospital. Despite our demands for our rights and patients' rights, of course we can't leave a patient unexamined.
All the cases requiring examination went straight to the ER and were examined and any necessary action was taken today.
The only cases that we postponed were the ones involving dispensing treatment at the state's expense, and based on the general assembly resolution, they were postponed to Thursday.
So no patient is paying the hospital, because he is an emergency case, and by law cannot be charged.
What happened was that a doctor in the gynecology department kindly charged each patient 350 pounds
against an invoice deposited in the safety deposit box
The whole deal is that we spoke to the hospital manager and made a complaint at the Doctors' Syndicate
that the money must be returned to the patients
the patients will get their rights, for free, without paying a single penny.
No patient will pay a single maleem to this hospital.
We want to send this message:
this strike is not directed at the people of Egypt, but against the Ministry.
Today we worked even more than any other day
but we caused losses to the Ministry.
We did not issue a single outpatient admission ticket.
Dr. Hamdy Sallam, surgery consultant and fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Vice-President of Manshiyet El Bakry Hospital.
Almost all the doctors here are participating in the strike.
I've been here for over 30 years and my salary is 850 pounds [$140].
if you include benefits and incentives, it comes to 1200 pounds [$200].
30 years of serving the Ministry of Health!
If I'd been at a bank - if I'd gone to the Faculty of Commerce -
and wasn't too stubborn, I would have been a bank manager by now
making 70 or 80 thousand pounds. The official pay grades - the minimum and maximum wage as determined by title and position -
have not been amended to this very day.
Mounira General Hospital
We've been demanding doctor's rights for many years
and reform of the health system.
The health system is a corrupt institution. The patients don't get their rights
the medical staff don't get their rights.
Neither the patients nor the doctors get their rights
No one does.
The whole thing is a farce.
Patients die in front of our eyes every day.
There are no drugs, no equipment except at a few big hospitals.
But most hospitals are just
dumps. There are attacks on hospitals.
Hospitals have turned into battlefields,
as a result of what we consider semi-intentional negligence.
We convened an assembly and went on strike
last year on May 10 and May 17
and our demands were not met.
We did a campaign called "What is more important than the health of Egyptians?"
We call on the President, we call on the Prime Minister
we call on the Egyptian government,
what is more important than the health of Egyptians!
What is more important, government?
What is more important than the health of Egyptians, Mr. President?
Why don't you respond?
Why do you force us to go on strike?
We don't want to strike. When hospitals go on strike it's a sad day.
Striking Hospitals in Cairo
The preliminary results for Cairo Governorate
The striking hospitals are Shubra General Hospital,
Ahmed Maher Hospital, El Hod El Marsoud Hospital,
Nasser Institute Hospital, Zawya El Hamra Hospital,
Sadr El Abbaseya Hospital, Matareya Teaching Hospital,
Mounira Hospital, Manshiyet El Bakry Hospital,
Nasr City Insurance Hospital, Khizindara Hospital,
El Sahel Teaching Hospital, Boulaq El Dakrour General Hospital,
the Abbaseya Hosptial for Mental Health and the Liver Institute.
The doctor's strike succeeded in its first days at 80% of the republic's hospitals.
Follow the General Committee For the Doctors' Strike's Facebook page for information on striking hospitals around Egypt.
The doctors' strike will continue till the demands are met.
Mosireen