Advertisement

Egypt: doctors targeted for highlighting Covid-19 working conditions

<span>Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters</span>
Photograph: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

Overwhelmed and ill-equipped medical staff in Egypt are being threatened for speaking out about poor working conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic, with increasing numbers detained by a domestic security agency.

Doctors recounted threats delivered via WhatsApp, official letters or in person. They said hospital managers and government officials told them failing to attend shifts, posting on social media or voicing objections would result in complaints to the National Security Agency, Egypt’s primary internal security body, which rights groups say has arrested multiple healthcare workers.

A doctor in the outlying Cairo district of 6th October said hospital management regularly threatened staff with referral to the NSA, after they voiced concerns about a doctor who died but was not permitted to be PCR tested. “They told us our social media will be monitored to the extent I deleted all my colleagues since I can’t trust any of them,” she said.

Another doctor at a hospital in Alexandria said when a group of medics gathered to demand a coronavirus test for a colleague showing symptoms people from hospital security and plainclothes police showed up.

“When I got home, I posted [on social media] about the incident,” the Alexandria doctor continued. “Later I found out I’d been referred to investigation, and the hospital manager told me the National Security Agency want to talk to me.”

Egypt has recorded more than 80,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, although one government minister has repeatedly warned true case numbers could be five or even 10 times higher than official figures. The Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research, known as Baseera, has estimated that at least 616,000 Egyptians were infected with Covid-19 . At least 131 doctors have died from coronavirus.

Doctors have described a medical system overwhelmed by the virus with few hospital beds or medications available to treat even the most desperate patients and as the pandemic has tested Egypt’s health infrastructure, the medical workers branded the “White Army” by authorities have faced reprisals for speaking out.

The Egyptian Medical Syndicate, a quasi-government body that represents healthcare workers, has also become a target after it accused the prime minister, Mostafa Madbouly, of inciting anger against doctors when he warned the government will “take appropriate legal measures” against absentee doctors, blaming their “lack of discipline” for the rise in cases.

Syndicate treasurer Mohamed Moataz al-Fawal was arrested at his home by security forces for a Facebook post that criticised Madbouly’s speech, accused of “spreading false news”, and joining a terrorist group.

Security forces later physically prevented doctors from holding a press conference to respond to Madbouly’s accusations. “I remind everyone that muting the problem doesn’t solve it,” said Mona Mina, a syndicate official who witnessed the incident.

At least seven members of the medical syndicate are currently detained for discussing Covid-19 on social media, accused of “spreading false news”, and board member Dr Ahmed Safwat was also held incommunicado by security forces after criticising Madbouly’s speech.

The rights group Amnesty International has documented the arrest of at least six doctors and two pharmacists, detained by the NSA for speaking out about the pandemic. In one case, the director of a hospital reported a pregnant doctor to the agency after she called a government hotline to register a Covid-19 case. She was detained on charges that included joining a terrorist group.

“We are valueless for them. They sacrifice us,” said a medical worker at a public hospital in Giza. “We have no PCR tests. We have no drugs. We have no places to admit patients, we ask them to quarantine at home and to try to find drugs, even though we’re sure these drugs are lacking even in private pharmacies.”

He described how doctors were told that absences mean they will be reported to the NSA, a body notorious for forcibly disappearing and torturing citizens in an effort to stamp out dissent from even the mildest critics. “I don’t dare to be absent, even from these shifts where I can’t help anyone,” he said. “I’m okay to put myself at risk if I can help people, but I’m doing so without any service to these patients.”

The doctor said he bought himself a face shield, due to a profound shortage of protective equipment across Egypt. He feared requesting one from his hospital would be seen as a complaint, and would land him in trouble as the facility likely had none. “Buying it was much easier than prison,” he said. “This is a tradeoff between money and freedom.”

All the medical workers interviewed said news of arrests or threats had a chilling effect, intended to make them reconsider voicing their own concerns. “They don’t have to arrest everyone who is talking,” said the Giza doctor. “They just have to arrest a few and the rest fear to do the same. These doctors don’t want to face the same fate.”

A spokesman for the Egyptian health ministry and the head of Egypt’s State Information Service did not respond to requests for comment.