Thousands of doctors started on Monday morning a partial strike at governmental hospitals in accordance with the Doctors Syndicate’s general assembly decision which ordered staging strike on Mondays and Wednesdays of February, due to the cabinet’s reluctance in applying the medical professions cadre law.
Health Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Kamel said participation in the partial strike on Monday only reached 19 percent nationwide, while the doctors claimed 50 percent participation.
“Number of hospitals that took part in the strike is 88 out of 514 hospitals across the country,” Kamel told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
“The strike was partial. It did not completely affect work at the hospitals. It was at some, not all, the external clinics,” he added.
The ministry formed operations chamber to communicate with heads of the hospitals, ministry deputies across Egypt to follow on the strike and assist patients.
Mona Mina, secretary general of the syndicate, said participation within the strike on the first day is less than that of previous strikes. She added that participation rates of governorates of Aswan, Ismailia and Alexandria has not been sent to the syndicate due to urgent circumstances that happened to coordinators of the strike at these governorates.
“The average rate of participation in strike is 50 percent, which is less than the last average which reached 70 percent,” Mina added. Strike at hospitals of Cairo reached 55 percent. In Sohag, Luxor and Qena, strike reached 90 percent. In Gharbiya, strike reached 60 percent. In Qalyoubeya, it reached 50 percent, according to her. The strike also reached 50 percent in Suez, 90 percent in Kafr al-Sheikh, 80 percent in Beheira and 60 percent in Marsa Matrouh, Mina said.
The syndicate earlier called for strike against the doctors cadre which was adopted by Health Ministry. Doctors indicate to shortcomings within the cadre regarding the salaries and employment rights.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
