Egyptian prosecution released the deputy head of the Doctor's Syndicate Mona Mina on LE1,000 bail yesterday. Mina was being interrogated over statements she made related to the reuse of medical supplies in hospitals.
Mina's statements were made during a phone-in interview with Al-Assema TV channel in mid-November, when she claimed she had received a plea from a doctor who said that the hospital he works for gave them verbal instructions to cut their usage of medical supplies by half, and use some of the supplies more than once.
“This includes syringes and IV drips for example,” Mina clarified, “if a patient needs two IV drips a day, [they’re told] to use only one, if a patient needs two syringes, they are to cover one and use it again.”
Mina came under fire over her statements which were vehemently denied by the Ministry of Health.
The ministry said it would take legal action against her.
Health ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed said in a phone interview with the same channel that Mina's statements were not backed up and caused unnecessary "panic" among people. He added that her statements affect national security and accordingly the ministry reported her.
But Mina explained that her statements were taken out of context and were exaggerated.
She explained that the phone in was about 15 minutes long and was centered on the shortage of medical supplies as well as medication in hospitals.
“There are several alarming facts I mentioned in the phone in but unfortunately there seems to be an attempt to misrepresent the statements and divert the focus to distract from the important problems that need solutions,” Mina said in the statement.
Mina further explained that she was not generalizing, but rather talking about this specific case in Assiut hospital.
She also clarified that she meant that the syringe could be used on the same patient more than once, not on different patients.
