Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi returned to the tone of talking about the enemies of the country and what he described as skeptics in his accomplishments, especially with regard to confronting the Corona virus, while Reuters news agency published a report confirming that Egyptian doctors, journalists and activists face arrest and threats because of their exposure to inadequate treatment Power with this pandemic.
Since he led a coup against President-elect Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and then assuming power after that, Sisi does not stop accusing those who sometimes describe them as enemies of the homeland and sometimes evil people as obstructing his accomplishments, while Sisi opponents see his accomplishments only as an increase in borrowing from abroad and projects An illusion that did not have a positive impact on the country's economy, as well as the neglect of part of Egypt's land for Saudi Arabia and its water rights for Ethiopia.
Since the outbreak of the Corona virus in Egypt and most of the world and communication sites, it has questioned the numbers announced by the Egyptian authorities about the number of infections that have reached, according to official figures, nearly 20 thousand infections and more than 800 deaths.
But the past few days have witnessed a remarkable development represented in the anger of the doctors because of what they considered neglect of the authority for them and not protecting them or providing them with the simplest requirements that enable them to play their role in facing this pandemic, but the authority’s authority responded by accusing the doctors of treason and not sacrificing for the sake of the nation, but rather the matter arrived Some media outlets accuse doctors of carrying out hostile schemes of foreign countries or of the Muslim Brotherhood to which President Mohamed Morsi belonged.
The anger of the doctors reached its peak after the death of four doctors in one day, and a number of them submitted their resignations, and the Medical Union issued a strongly worded statement, which prompted the authority to back down and announce steps to help the doctors perform their role in this critical stage.
The stalkers and skeptics,
but Sisi returned today in a post on Facebook to talk about the successes and efforts of the authority to confront the epidemic and to continue the development plans, adding that the enemies of the homeland are stalkers trying to question the state's efforts and achievement.
In conjunction with Al-Sisi's publication, Reuters news agency broadcast a report titled that doctors in Egypt, as well as journalists and activists, complain of attempts to muzzle their mouths in the Corona crisis, and face arrest or the threat of arrest for their exposure to the authority's shortcomings in dealing with the Corona virus.
Reuters began showing the case of ophthalmologist Hani Bakr, who police stormed his residence in Qalyubia Governorate, north of Cairo, with darkness on April 10, and arrested him because of a post he wrote on Facebook criticizing the authorities for sending medical masks to China and Italy while he could not obtain He has masks to do his work, according to his lawyer, Aisha Nabeel.
The authorities are still holding Bakr, 36, who is one of at least three doctors who were arrested during the emerging virus crisis.
Lawyers say the accusations against these doctors are spreading false news, misuse of social media and joining a terrorist organization, and the latter is a charge often used in political cases.
Why arrest?
Reuters reports that lawyers have arrested the doctors after they raised their voices to protest the lack of protection or to call for better measures to control the infection.
The Ministry of Interior responsible for the police did not respond to a Reuters request to comment on the arrest of Bakr and other doctors, knowing that the authority denies pressure on medical workers and says it has managed efforts to respond to the pandemic well.
The government boosted spending on the health sector, earmarked rewards for health care workers in public hospitals, and when it imposed a curfew and closed schools, mosques, and hotels in March, some doctors praised the move.
But as the number of casualties - including among health care workers - accelerated, some questioned official statements that the pandemic was under control.
Nine doctors, lawyers, and human rights activists interviewed by Reuters said they saw a broader campaign to censor media coverage of the outbreak of the disease, benefiting from a wide-ranging campaign to crack down on opposition during the Sisi era.
In response to written questions from Reuters about doctors' complaints and reports about concealment of information, the press center of the State Information Service said that "Egypt is one of the most successful countries in dealing with the Corona epidemic" and the center did not provide any details.
Doctors are concerned, the
World Health Organization says about 11% of people infected with HIV in Egypt are health care workers, including 124 doctors, according to a report released on May 17.
On Monday, the Medical Syndicate said it had registered 350 cases among doctors, including 19 deaths, while the Ministry of Health reported taking preventive measures and conducting nearly 20,000 examinations for medical workers nationwide, including about 9,000 swabs to detect the virus.
However, with the spread of the virus, some doctors in public hospitals expressed increasing concern, and said that they had not had the means to fight the virus.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement on Monday that it had ordered an investigation at the Mounira Hospital in Cairo into the death of the young doctor, Walid Yahya, who was infected with the virus, after his colleagues threatened to resign collectively for reasons, including: lack of preparations and means of protection in the hospital and low salaries, in addition to administrative and security threats .
Also in Mansheya El-Bakry Hospital in Cairo, the digestive pathologist, Mohamed Mokbel, said that hospital staff asked - without success - to have them examined when the results of tests for 23 of their colleagues were positive after the hospital began receiving suspected cases of the virus in mid-May .
He added that when the hospital doctors decided to refrain from work to support their demands for examination and provide protection and training, the hospital administration threatened to inform the National Security Agency about them, and hospital officials could not be contacted to comment on what he said.
The Ministry of Health did not respond to requests for comment, and Sisi's advisor for health affairs, Muhammad Tajuddin, told Reuters that the official figures for the injured are accurate, denying that there are pressures on doctors, adding that retaliatory measures are "not allowed" and that complaints receive attention.
Threats by the authority,
but the sources said that the government moved to quell the criticism, as a memo from the Ministry of Health - sent to hospitals in Beheira Governorate - and an activist (anonymity request) Reuters - told the health-care workers that they would be subject to legal accountability if they leaked information about a virus Sk.
Doctors in three other governorates said they had seen similar warnings, while a doctor from Dakahlia governorate - who asked not to be named - said that the Legal Affairs Committee of the Ministry of Health in the governorate interrogated him because the ministry accused Facebook of lacking transparency, adding that the state wants to reduce the number of registered deaths.
The Ministry of Health did not respond to a request for comment on what the doctor said, who appeared before a legal committee, for criticizing the ministry on Facebook.
In the official media, doctors have criticized what the government announces figures for infection with the Corona virus or success in the battle with the virus, that they have links with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
The director of the Arab Network for Human Rights, Jamal Eid, said that the authorities arrested at least 500 people, including activists, lawyers, and 11 journalists.
Eid added that the authorities do not want anyone to transmit any reports other than official data.
Reuters concluded its report that the Interior Ministry spokesman had not responded to her request to comment on these arrests.