Cabinet denies laying off employees, selling historic buildings

CAIRO – 20 September 2019: The Cabinet’s Media Center on Friday, September 20th has denied as many as ten rumors that took place within the past week, including laying off a number of the government’s administrative employees following the automation of public services.

The center denied suspending the completion of the rest of the phases of the comprehensive health insurance system, due to alleged lack of financial allocations. It also slammed rumors claiming that the initiative to eliminate waiting lists had caused the suspension of treatment decisions at state expense.

Rumors also included stopping the establishment of the 500500 Cancer Hospital.

The report of the media council also responded to the rumors of depriving the importers of Port Said from participating in the comprehensive health insurance system, and the disappearance of the subsidized fertilizers from the associations.

It also denied the frequent reports of selling historical buildings.

Concerning education, it denied rumors of forcing parents to pay donations as part of "community participation", and abolishing the system of electronic exams in the current academic year.

Random removal of some citizens within the fourth stage to filtrate the ration cards was also denied.

In July, last year, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned against false news clarifying that more than 21,000 rumors have been propagated over a period of three months. The president also asked people to be cautious of calls that inherently aim at the collapse of the Egyptian state. This came in the 66th anniversary of July 23 Revolution that ended the monarchy in 1952.