Doctors and nurses criticize the Egyptian Ministry of Health's dealings with Corona

Activists on social media in Egypt shared videos of doctors and nurses critical of the Ministry of Health's handling of the emerging corona virus, and the lack of means to protect medical personnel from transmission.

This coincided with reports that a doctor working in the central laboratories of the Ministry of Health had contracted the disease, which led the laboratory administration to stop examining operations and assign them to a number of its febrile hospitals.

Fatima Farhat, one of the nursing leaders at Mansoura University Hospital, criticized the Minister of Health, Hala Zayed, for what she said was the Ministry's failure to protect medical personnel from the Corona virus (Covid-19).

"The minister does not preserve the nursing and medical staff who treat patients with Corona virus without protection and appropriate medical equipment to prevent the disease," the nurse said.

She called to visit hospitals to find out the truth, which is the absence of preventive medical aids, and she explained that one of her fellow nurses was sick and was treated, and there is a fear that she might have contracted the disease.

In an video clip, an Egyptian doctor criticized the way the Ministry of Health deals with medical personnel for not providing the necessary health aids to help them perform their work and treat patients with the Corona virus.

The doctor, who works in intensive care at Bulaq Dakrur Hospital, said in a video on Facebook that the Ministry of Health does not provide medical staff with proper examination procedures, necessary capabilities, awareness-raising methods, protection, and necessary notification of sick cases.

He also criticized the Ministry’s officials' disregard for their continuous appeals to help them transport the patient and perform the necessary examinations for him before his death.

The Egyptian doctor called for random checks for all medical personnel every two weeks, so that everyone can be reassured, because of their treatment with medical cases that are later found to be infected with Corona virus. He also requested that a corona examination be performed for any patient with pneumonia or chest diseases and his isolation to narrow the circle of those in contact with him.

The doctor called the ministry to stand with the Egyptian people in this difficult circumstance in which the Corona epidemic is spreading, and he demanded that all cases be treated as if it were the state of Corona until proven otherwise, so that the disease does not spread among those dealing with the injured.

French warning
These videos coincide with a graphic warning issued by the French ambassador to Cairo about the deterioration of the situation in Egypt soon, and he called for the need to prepare from now.

The French ambassador said in a video broadcast on Twitter that Egypt will be isolated from the rest of the world like many countries in this ordeal, warning that the situation will be very difficult in the coming weeks, and he asked the Egyptian authorities to prepare from now for this circumstance.

The Damietta General Hospital had witnessed days of confusion and panic after discovering that a nurse was infected with Corona virus, and a video clip showed her colleagues crying and screaming while she was being transferred to the Isolation Hospital.

And the "Cairo 24" news website quoted the official of the health isolation in the governorate, Ibrahim Abu Al-Khair, as saying that the injured occupies the position of head of the hospital's nursing department, and that she was transferred to the isolation hospital in the Ismailia governorate, confirming the isolation of her colleagues and contacts.

For his part, Al-Jazeera Net reporter Abdullah Hamed confirmed that the central laboratory department in the Egyptian Ministry of Health decided to assign examinations of corona virus cases to each of its fever hospitals, which are Imbaba and Abbasid fever hospitals in Cairo, as well as other febrile hospitals in order to analyze the cases they have .

This decision came after the examination doctor of the central laboratories was infected with the Corona virus, according to Ministry sources, which prompted the ministry to close the central laboratories and send the required cases for examination to conduct analyzes to the closest hospital to the case, while providing the hospitals subject to the Ministry with the necessary material for analysis.

Health professionals fear that the government health system will not tolerate an increase in cases, given the lack of capabilities to tackle the Corona virus in private hospitals, which refuse to enter any cases they have for examination or follow-up.

In his first televised appearance in more than a month, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi warned that the number of coronaviruses in Egypt could rise to thousands in a few days if the matter was not dealt with seriously, calling on the Egyptians for more responsibility and discipline for two weeks to confront Corona.

Al-Sisi stressed that the country and its institutions will move more to overcome the Corona virus crisis, announcing the allocation of about 6 billion dollars to face the repercussions of Corona, within the package of economic measures to deal with the crisis.

It is noteworthy that the Egyptian Ministry of Health announced on Saturday evening the registration of two deaths and nine new infections with the Corona virus, bringing the number of infected cases to 294 in addition to ten deaths, while 41 people are recovering.