Muna Mina, a former member of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate, warned of a disaster threatening the community with an outbreak of Corona virus infection, following new instructions approved by the Ministry of Health regarding the examination of medical personnel.

These warnings came two days after a statement issued by the Doctors ’Union demanding that the Minister of Health Hala Zayed and the head of the Health Care Authority reconsider or cancel administrative decision No. 1 of 2020, regarding the division of labor between isolation doctors, as the union considered that it contains several negative factors that prevent Apply it practically.

This comes at a time when the Corona virus continues to infiltrate medical teams in Egypt, where several hospitals nationwide announced that a number of medical teams were infected with the virus, including about seventy doctors, which led to a crisis between the Medical Syndicate and the Ministry of Health.

"The instructions of the Egyptian Ministry of Health to rely on a rapid test to diagnose whether or not medical personnel are infected, have no scientific basis, and they clearly violate WHO's instructions," Mina said in a post on her Facebook page.

She emphasized that relying on the rapid test before the doctor goes out to the community equals the risk of more possibilities of spreading the infection among medical staff and citizens, especially as the Ministry of Health instructions do not leave until a period of isolation between the "negative" rapid test and the exit of the medical team member and its mixing with society.

Mina called for the necessity to stop the implementation of these instructions in violation of the scientific rules immediately, and to return to the PCR test before allowing the medical teams working in the isolation hospitals to return to mix with the community.

A few days ago, the Egyptian Medical Syndicate published its negative comments on the decision of the Health Care Authority regarding the division of labor among isolation doctors, which prevents it from being applied in practice, asking the Minister of Health to reconsider and cancel it.

Among the negatives that the union listed in its statement, the division of the work team into two or three groups working alternately, where one group works for ten or 15 consecutive days without interruption and round the clock, provided that the second group is committed to self-isolation without contacting any individual during This period, then they are exchanged, and so on.

The union pointed out that this system necessitates the discontinuation of the medical team member from public life and from people and the care of his family for an unknown period of time, as it is not clear the financial compensation that will be obtained.

The decision also stipulated that whoever proves infected during the period of self-isolation in violation of the rules of isolation is granted a compulsory leave for a period of two weeks, then disciplinary measures towards him are taken to affect this on the workflow.

The union asked: How is it proven that the injury did not occur during the previous work period, and that the member was in the incubation period? And how to prove that the infection occurred due to a violation of the rules of self-isolation or not, in light of the rapid spread of the virus even with taking preventive measures?

She pointed out that the mere stipulation of holding accountable those who become infected is a very negative message for members of the medical team.

Doctors' dues
The Medical Association addressed the Prime Minister to resume the payment of dues for doctors working in the isolation hospitals, after complaints were received from them that the payment of bonuses previously decided by the Ministry of Health had ceased, indicating the moral impact of the matter.

The Corona virus crisis brought up the issue of an infection allowance for doctors in Egypt, which amounts to only 19 pounds (a dollar less than 16 pounds), as the "white army" in the face of danger, especially in quarantine headquarters and hospitals.

The Physicians ’Union has been fighting for years for one of its most important battles with the government, to demand an increase in the value of the infection, which has not been any increase for a quarter of a century, as other groups that are not exposed to infection - such as judges - get a allowance of three thousand pounds.

At the beginning of this month, the first Egyptian doctor died of infection with the Corona virus, the Port Said analytical doctor, Ahmed El-Louah, and two weeks later the Dakahlia doctor, Sonia Abdel-Azim, and others died.

And the medical sector is still losing its cadres one by one, the last of which was the pharmacist Mohamed Ali graduate of the batch 2018, who was working at the Arab Contractors Hospital, who died two days ago from being infected with the Corona virus.

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Health, the total number that was registered in Egypt with the new Corona virus until Wednesday is 3659 cases, including 935 people who were cured and discharged from isolation hospitals, and 276 deaths.