Doctors resume nationwide strike

On Wednesday, doctors employed at public hospitals across the country embarked on their fourth day of strike action this year. However, the success and participation rates in these partial strikes — which the Doctors Syndicate has called for — is hotly contested.

The syndicate chose to escalate their strike actions this month following the deaths of four doctors, and the ailment of several other physicians employed at public hospitals over the past few weeks.

These four fatalities have been attributed to an unidentified respiratory illnesses contracted from patients — some claim a new strain of swine flu is involved, but the Health Ministry and a local official from the World Health Organization have denied such claims.

On Tuesday the syndicate called on the ministry to establish a specialized fact-finding committee in order to identify the causes of these doctors’ deaths. However, the ministry has not yet issued any official response regarding this demand.

The Doctors’ Syndicate accuses the Ministry of Health of failing to protect their medical staffs, and providing inadequate compensations for infectious illnesses.

Hisham Atta, a leading official from the Ministry of Health, claimed that the participation in today’s strike represented merely 19 percent of all doctors employed at the ministry’s hospitals on Wednesday.

In a televised address, Atta mentioned that calls for a partial strike have been heeded at only 91 public hospitals nationwide.

However, local branch syndicate boards claim the ministry is not accurately monitoring these strikes. Participation rates in these strikes across Greater Cairo are estimated to be around 80 percent according to syndicate officials. Other governorates have reported participation rates that range from 100 percent to less than 50 percent.

The Doctors Syndicate had moved to escalate their strike actions this month, after having launched their partial strikes on January 1 and 8.

Given the Health Ministry’s alleged disregard of their demands, the syndicate announced last month that it would escalate its actions from one strike day per week to two days of strike per week in February. Furthermore, the syndicate has called for three days of strike per week in March.

February’s strikes are scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays throughout this month. February 3 was the first day of strike action this month.

However, the success of these partial strikes is debatable. In January, the Doctors Syndicate launched its strikes in coordination with the Pharmacists, Dentists and Veterinarians Syndicates; however, only the Doctors Syndicate appears to be involved in this month’s strikes.

While criticizing and dismissing strike action, Atta did concede that most patients who sought medical attention did receive treatment via emergency rooms or other urgent medical services available.

The Doctors Syndicate has called on all physicians to venture to their respective hospitals on strike days — and to remain on-call for all pressing medical cases. Emergency rooms, intensive care units, kidney dialysis treatment, surgery rooms, nurseries, and all other crucial medical facilities have remained in operation throughout the strike.

Other than adequate compensation for contagious illnesses, the Doctors Syndicate is also demanding an increased national health care budget (of more than four times the current allocation), improved salaries for medical personnel, and safer hospital conditions for both doctors and patients.

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