CAIRO -

The Egyptian Medical Syndicate has warned of the continuing reluctance of doctors to work in the government sector, as well as their increasing efforts to migrate outside Egypt, calling on the Prime Minister and the concerned authorities to intervene to correct errors and improve the health system in all its parties.

In a report, the Medical Syndicate revealed the resignation of more than 11,000 doctors from working in the government sector since 2019, stressing that it had monitored the resignation of about 1,000 doctors within 3 months of this year.

Under the title "The Medical Syndicate is sounding the alarm," the Medical Syndicate warned of the obstacles to the stability of the health system, expressing its hope that this report will be the subject of a study to overcome the health system's difficulties, including the severe shortage of doctors.

Study 2019

The Doctors Syndicate’s report, which was issued last Thursday, referred to a study issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education in cooperation with the Ministry of Health in March 2019, on the extent of Egypt’s needs for human doctors and comparison with international rates.

The government study stated that the number of human doctors licensed to practice medicine until the end of 2018 - without pension doctors - is approximately 213,000, while those who actually work at the time in Egypt in the various authorities - which include the Ministry of Health, university and private hospitals and others - do not exceed 82. Only a thousand doctors, representing 38% of the main force licensed to practice medicine.

The study made several recommendations, including the adoption by the state in all its institutions of a plan to restore doctors to work in the Egyptian government sector, based on several axes, most notably raising the training level, securing the appropriate work environment and raising the financial and social level for doctors, and the plan targeted the return of 60,000 doctors to work in the government health sector within 5 years. .

The study also recommended the need to work on increasing the number of students admitted to medical colleges in public and private universities, in a manner that does not conflict with the capabilities of colleges and university hospitals in providing a good level of medical education. .

The situation is worse

In its report, the Medical Syndicate said that 3 years after the issuance of that study, and despite the interest shown by the authorities and the implementation of some of its recommendations, such as increasing the number of students admitted to medical colleges, and establishing new medical colleges, the numbers and statistics confirm that the situation is still bad or worse, according to described.

The report revealed that the decisions that were taken were not sufficient to restore the doctors. Rather, the numbers proved the increasing reluctance of doctors to work in the government sector, and their increasing efforts to migrate outside Egypt.

The report compared between the three years preceding the government study and the three years following it, as it was found that the first years witnessed the resignation of about 6,200 doctors, while the three years following the study witnessed the resignation of more than 10 and 600 doctors, in addition to the resignation of nearly a thousand doctors during the first three months of the study. This year, the number of patients who have resigned since the start of the study has exceeded 11 and 500 doctors.

The union indicated that the year 2021 witnessed the resignation of the largest number of doctors from the government compared to previous years, with a total of 4,127 doctors.

Obstacles and obstacles

The Doctors Syndicate report identified a set of obstacles and obstacles facing doctors in Egypt and leading to their preference to emigrate outside the country, whether they wish to work freely or work within government hospitals.

The report said that at a time when what it described as “dens” spread, during which drugs of unknown source are circulated, such as slimming clinics and unlicensed addiction treatment centers, instructions and requirements that were not stipulated by law, and amounted to incapacitating, are fabricated for doctors when they seek to license private health facilities.

The report also reviewed a number of cases described as “administrative abuse or oppression” that distinguished doctors are subjected to, being refused appointment in universities without any justification, and some hospitals refusing to hand over doctors their work without announcing reasons, despite the severe incapacity that hospitals and universities suffer from.

He also referred to the crisis of treating doctors as criminals, in the absence of a medical liability law that the Syndicate has been demanding for years, whereby Egyptian law punishes a doctor with imprisonment if he causes any medical harm to his patient, while most countries have a medical liability law in the event of a medical error from a qualified doctor. resulting in harm to the patient, the penalty shall be financial compensation according to the degree of harm.

The report also indicated that the Egyptian doctor who works in the hospitals of the Ministry of Health receives a salary that cannot be compared to any doctor in the world, as the average salary of a doctor residing in Egypt does not exceed 3,700 pounds (about $200), while the average pension for a doctor after about 35 years He worked in the government 2,300 Egyptian pounds (about 125 dollars).

At the conclusion of its report, the Medical Syndicate affirmed its belief that coordination and direct communication with the concerned authorities and collective action in a serious plan to correct errors and establish clear standards and system, will lead to solutions to problems and improve the health system with all its sides.

The union indicated its request for an expanded meeting chaired by the Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, that includes the concerned authorities to discuss the problems of the medical sector, develop solutions and take unified decisions.

government justification

While Egypt suffers from a shortage in the number of doctors, some - including a previous statement by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi - saw that the search for money is the goal of doctors to leave their country.

At the end of last February, Sisi said that doctors are leaving Egypt in search of job opportunities in other countries, noting that the government wishes to pay salaries that suit doctors, but it is not able to do so.

In turn, a member of the Health Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives, Abdel Moneim Shehab, confirmed that European countries and the Arab Gulf states are opening their doors to Egyptian doctors, due to the shortage they suffer from graduates of medical colleges, and the European youth's reluctance to study medicine due to its difficulty and high cost.

Shehab also referred - in press statements - to the skill of the Egyptian doctor in delicate specialties, such as heart, brain and neurosurgery, which makes him a desirable target for these countries, where he receives high wages compared to the wages of doctors in Egypt.

Under the title "Why Doctors Migrate", doctor and activist Mona Mina referred to the working conditions of medical staff in Egypt, especially in government hospitals, from very low salaries, lack of doctors, large numbers of patients, weak capabilities and difficulty in providing a satisfactory medical service, and the doctors endured the anger of patients and their families. As a result of dissatisfaction with the service provided, and the weakness of infection control measures, which, for example, caused terrible numbers of deaths of doctors fighting the Corona pandemic.

Mina denounced the failure to respond to the doctors' demands to raise the health budget to improve work possibilities and improve the salaries of doctors and the medical team, noting that the only move she sees is more emphasis to prevent doctors from traveling by all means.