Overwhelmed and ill-equipped medical staff in Egypt are being threatened for speaking out about poor working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, with increasing numbers detained by a domestic security agency.
Doctors recounted threats delivered via WhatsApp, official letters or in person.
They said hospital managers and government officials told them that failing to attend shifts, posting on social media or voicing objections would result in complaints to the National Security Agency (NSA), Egypt’s primary internal security body, which rights groups have said has arrested multiple healthcare workers.
Photo: EPA-EFE
A doctor in the outlying Cairo district of 6th October said that hospital management regularly threatened staff with referral to the NSA, after they voiced concerns about a doctor who died, but was not permitted to have a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.
“They told us our social media will be monitored to the extent I deleted all my colleagues, since I can’t trust any of them,” she said.
Another doctor at a hospital in Alexandria said when a group of medics gathered to demand a coronavirus test for a colleague showing symptoms, people from hospital security and plainclothes police showed up.
“When I got home, I posted [on social media] about the incident,” the Alexandria doctor said. “Later I found out I’d been referred to investigation, and the hospital manager told me the National Security Agency wanted to talk to me.”
Egypt has recorded more than 80,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, although one government minister has repeatedly said that true case numbers could be five or even 10 times higher than official figures.
The Egyptian Center for Public Opinion Research, known as Baseera, has estimated that at least 616,000 Egyptians were infected with COVID-19. At least 131 doctors have died from the coronavirus.
Doctors have described a medical system overwhelmed by the virus, with few hospital beds or medications available to treat even the most desperate patients.
As the pandemic has tested Egypt’s health infrastructure, the medical workers branded the “White Army” by authorities have faced reprisals for speaking out.
The Egyptian Medical Syndicate, a quasi-government body that represents healthcare workers, has also become a target after it accused Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly of inciting anger against doctors when he said that the government would “take appropriate legal measures” against absentee doctors, blaming their “lack of discipline” for the rise in cases.
Syndicate treasurer Mohamed Moataz al-Fawal was arrested at his home by security forces for a Facebook post that criticized Madbouly’s speech, accused of “spreading false news” and joining a terrorist group.
Security forces later physically prevented doctors from holding a news conference to respond to Madbouly’s accusations.
“I remind everyone that muting the problem doesn’t solve it,” said Mona Mina, a syndicate official who witnessed the incident.
At least seven members of the medical syndicate have been detained for discussing COVID-19 on social media, accused of “spreading false news,” and board member Ahmed Safwat was also held incommunicado by security forces after criticizing Madbouly’s speech.
Amnesty International has documented the arrest of at least six doctors and two pharmacists, detained by the NSA for speaking out about the pandemic.
In one case, the director of a hospital reported a pregnant doctor to the agency after she called a government hotline to register a COVID-19 case. She was detained on charges that included joining a terrorist group.
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