The Egyptian Doctors’ Syndicate referred the Minister of Health to the syndicate’s disciplinary board for professional ethics for an investigation into remarks he had made that are “offensive to doctors,” according to a statement published on their website on Tuesday. The referral of health minister Ahmed Radi came in accordance with the measures decided upon in the syndicate’s latest emergency general assembly meeting, which thousands of doctors had attended on February 12 to protest incidents of police violence and violations in public hospitals. The Doctors’ Syndicate Assistant Secretary General Rashwan Shaaban told Aswat Masriya that the minister has made remarks on a number of occasions in which he “discredited” doctors’ qualifications and criticised the syndicate’s board and emergency general assembly meeting. “Most importantly,” Shaaban said, “the minister fell short of fulfilling his political and administrative responsibility toward the protection of doctors and hospitals amid the Matareya crisis.” The Matareya crisis dates back to late January over purported police assaults that took place when Ahmed Abdallah, a doctor at the Matareya Teaching Hospital, told local media that he was assaulted by two low-ranking plainclothes policemen at the hospital. The policemen, Abdallah said,…
Egypt’s Health Minister Referred to Doctors’ Syndicate Disciplinary Board
March 1, 2016
