Mona Mina is the first woman to hold the post of Secretary General of the Doctors Syndicate, after the Independence Current won the half-term elections, surpassing the Doctors for Egypt list, a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate.
Sources say that the syndicate has turned into a minefield, because of its escalating dilemmas, and the doctors’ cadre system that faces a lot of obstacles.
For her continuous struggles in serving both patients and doctors, Mina has been named “the Princess of Doctors.”
On 2 February 2011, as known as the Battle of the Camel, Mina was attacked by thugs who claimed that she was a spy, when in fact she was providing supplies for field hospitals.
“We carried tons of medical supplies for long distances, and when we finally found a car to transport us, we were subject to inspection and interrogation and were accused of being agents,” she said. “We even had to bribe them, so they would let us pass.”
Mina said that the recurring cases of patients and their families attacking hospitals are proof that the healthcare system is failing, especially in government hospitals. Many patients, however, have no choice but to seek treatment in state-run hospitals, because of the high costs of private institutions.
What annoys Mina the most is that “some hospitals refuse to admit critical cases.” This included Qasr al-Ainy, a large Cairo hospital, which refused a patient who had suffered a concussion, according to Mina.
While most people went back to their homes after the 2011 revolution, Mina went back to the Syndicate, so she could try to make the life of doctors easier and demand that they be treated fairly. She toured the country as part of a campaign called “Doctors without Rights” and she convinced many doctors that a “doctors’ strike” is the answer.
Perhaps the biggest problem facing Mina is the relatively small healthcare budget, which is less than 1 percent of the global average. She is also faced with the challenge of implementing the doctors’ cadre system.
Mina has participated in four strikes during the Mubarak and Morsy eras, after she gained the trust of member doctors. The latest strike was in October 2012.
Mina also said that the MB tried to use the draft law of the doctors’ cadre as election propaganda. She then accused the syndicate board, which was then dominated by the MB, of “allying with the Shura Council and the government against the interests of doctors.”
Mina thought that the most recent syndicate elections were extremely vital to the future of Egyptian doctors. She traveled the country, encouraging doctors to show up at the polls. “Either you come out to vote, or the syndicate will go down a dark tunnel,” she added.
During her election campaign, she promised to “find a radical solution to demand doctor rights, by beginning a partial strike on 1 January in order to put pressure on the state to meet the demands of doctors."
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
