(Laurence Underhill/ File Photo)
By Youssef El Beshlawy
The Doctors’ Syndicate denounced the “aggressions and kidnappings” against doctors in a Tuesday press conference in Dar El-Hikma.
Spokesman Ahmed Lotfy said the most recent casualty toll against doctors included four deaths and 12 injuries, six of whom were injured by gunshots.
He also said 11 doctors had been arrested recently.
Gamal Abdel-Salam, the secretary general of the doctors’ syndicate, criticised the Ministry of Health for “not having checked upon any of the injured in the latest clashes”.
“In Al-Menassa massacre, the Ministry’s clock stopped at 1pm. And it only started to make correct statements by last evening”, he said.
He also called on the prosecutor general to investigate the last clashes, and announced his opposition to the closure of the investigation into the Republican Guards clashes “without hearing testimonies from the [syndicate] doctors.”
“The syndicate defends the doctor’s right to work in favourable conditions in conformity with international conventions, in an environment of dignity where he can do his job safely”, said Mohamed Othman, deputy head of the Doctors’ Syndicate.
Ibrahim Al-Zaafarany, a member of the Human Rescue Committee in the Arab Doctors’ Union, condemned “the blockade by unknown individuals of some hospitals.”
“It is against international laws and conventions that injured individuals be arrested, harmed, threatened or deprived from succour. There were even hospitals that received orders not to provide injured people with treatment,” he said.
He mentioned Ahmed Hamad, a doctor who died in Al-Menassa clashes on Saturday. He had worked on humanitarian missions in Darfur, Libya and Syria.
Al-Zaafarany finally called on for the protection of the International Red Cross teams in Rabaa Al-Adaweya and other squares in order to allow them to pursue their “purely humanitarian job”.
