Facebook users have widely celebrated last week's election of Dr. Hussein Khairy as the new head of the Doctors' Syndicate, praising what they describe as his benevolence to patients and students.
Dubbing him the “Hermit of Qasr al-Aini”, and the “Doctor of the Poor”, users circulated photos of Khairy resting against a trolley while looking exhausted, saying it was taken following a tremendously difficult surgery.
Khairy, who won elections with 7,000 votes ahead of nine other competitors, does not run a private clinic and devotes all his time to the government-run Qasr al-Aini Hospital. Some even attribute that him being a bachelor shows his preference toward spending most of his time among disadvantaged patients and younger doctors and medical aids.
Khairy’s students, according to Facebook users, credit him for giving free lectures to students who are unable to afford private tutoring, which has become increasingly common at many medical schools.
Khairy, a hematologist, was the first elected dean of Cairo University’s medical school, maintaining the post between 2011 and 2014.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
