Egypt’s Medical Syndicate calls for allocating quarantine hospitals for health workers

CAIRO – 13 May 2020: The Egyptian Medical Syndicate urged the Health Ministry on Wednesday, to allocate hospitals for doctors and medical teams' quarantine; warning that the number of COVID-19 infections among medical teams is rising with no quick response regarding their hospitalization or treatment.

In a message sent to the ministry, the syndicate explained that it received several notes from doctors and health workers, affirming that quarantine hospitals are overcrowded with patients, which accordingly delays the hospitalization of the newly announced cases.

In their warning call, the doctors demanded naming specific hospitals only for the quarantine of infected cases among medical teams, opening new facilities for receiving new cases and preparing a number of non-treatment quarantine places, such as University dormitories or hotels.

Egypt saw a surge in the daily number of coronavirus cases over the past days, reporting a total of 10,093 infected cases and 544 deaths, according to the Health Ministry’s daily briefing on Tuesday.

"The syndicate announced on May 1, that it does not have accurate figures for doctors who have tested positive, but according to the latest figures obtained from the syndicate’s branches nationwide, 90 doctors were infected," said Ihab Taher, secretary-general of the Doctors' Syndicate.

"The World Health Organization said in a report on April 13 that the infected medical staff represents 13 percent of the total cases in Egypt," Taher added.

However, on May 10, the syndicate announced that 50 health workers at a hospital inCairo were tested for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), 35 were found to be positive.

On April 28, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered providing all the needed medical supplies to the quarantine and isolation hospitals all over the country.

According to presidency spokesperson Bassam Rady, Sisi followed up with latest updates regarding the workflow inside of the isolation hospitals via a video conference meeting with number of the hospitals' directors.

Sisi described the hospitals as one of the state’s main pillars to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. He expressed appreciation and pride regarding the huge efforts made by the medical staff working in these hospitals during such exceptional time.