The duel between the Health Ministry and the Doctors’ Syndicate continues as both sides are determined to meet their ends.
Ministry’s spokesman Khaled Megahed said Friday the syndicate is in no place to hold the minister accountable, following recent demands by the syndicate’s general assembly to refer health minister, Ahmed Emad Eddin, to a disciplinary board to strip him off his professional license as a doctor.
“Referring the health minister to the professional ethics committee is illegal,” Megahed said in a phone call to Al-Hayat TV station. Since taking position, Emad Eddin’s work has been political and therefore he cannot be questioned by the syndicate as a doctor.
The decision by the syndicate general assembly to refer Emad Eddin and demand his dismissal from the cabinet received huge applause from more than 10,000 doctors who attended the assembly earlier this month.
Megahed’s comments came in response to the syndicate’s undersecretary, Mona Mina, who criticised the ministry’s negligence of doctors’ demands since Emad Eddin’s appointment. The demand to oust him was well received by doctors.
The syndicate’s assembly saw unprecedented participation as it approved demands calling for the provision of free medical care in public hospitals, the closure of any hospital that attacked, and the rejection of the health insurance bill.
They also demanded the parliament issue a new law to protect doctors from assault. The assembly stated if their demands are not met within two weeks, doctors will institute a partial strike.
The health minister filed a lawsuit against syndicate chairman Hussein Khairy and secretary general Ehab Al-Taher, demanding they cease implementation of the assembly’s decisions.
Shortly before the assembly, comments by Emad Eddin suggested a large number of doctors are not qualified to practice their profession, which further fuelled the doctors’ anger towards the minister and the ministry.
