The Board of the Doctor’s Syndicate announced that negotiations would be held next week with the ministries of finance and health, warning to strike if negotiations lead to “unsatisfactory results.”
The syndicate board with its new body following midterm elections held its first meeting on Thursday.
Health Minister Maha Al-Rabat attended the meeting and congratulated the board on its new formation and agreed during the meeting to begin “real negotiations,” a statement from the syndicate indicated.
Midterm election results were officially announced on Monday. While the Muslim Brotherhood traditionally succeeded in syndicate elections, in the current election, only one Brotherhood doctor won a seat out of 12 contested seats. The Independent Movement won the remaining 11 seats.
In October, the Ministries of Health and Finance announced the finalisation of a new draft law, to improve conditions for doctors, the Medical Incentives Law however many doctors have expressed dissatisfaction with it.
The syndicate had decided to start a partial strike on 1 January, during an emergency session of the General Assembly on 6 December. During the meeting on Thursday, a committee was formed to coordinate the strike. The partial strike would include the public hospitals but would not include the emergency departments, intensive care units or critical patients.
The committee is going to take the necessary legal procedures ahead of the strike by officially informing the Ministry of Health and Cabinet.
Among the most pressing demands on the doctors is the Staff Law, which doctors unanimously voted on during the General Assembly on 6 December. The Staff Law would organise financial, administrative and technical affairs for all medical professionals.
In 2012, a partial strike began on 1 October and lasted over 80 days ending in December with the understanding that the drafting and implementation of the Staff Law would shortly follow but the draft law has yet to be ratified.
In addition to the Staff Law, the 2012 partial strike also pushed for passing a law to enforce harsher penalties on anyone who commits an act of aggression against doctors or hospitals as well as raising the state budget for health to improve healthcare services for patients and practitioners nationwide.
