By Heba Fahmy
CAIRO: Member of the Doctors’ Syndicate Ahmed Hussein filed Wednesday a complaint at the Prosecutor General against officials at Salma Hospital for breaching doctor-patient confidentiality with Al-Nour Party parliamentarian.
“Doctors take an oath to never speak of their patents’ secrets, otherwise patients will not trust their doctors,” Hussein told Daily News Egypt.
The complaint was filed against hospital owner Mohamed Abdel-Khaleq El-Bedeiwy, hospital manager Hamdy Abdel-Khaleq Farag and plastic surgeon Mahmoud Naseff, for publicizing details of an operation on MP Anwar El-Belkemy.
Hospital officials accused El-Belkemy, MP affiliated with the Salafi Al-Nour Party, of lying and misleading the public to cover up his nose job by claiming he was attacked.
Last week, El-Belkemy said five masked men assaulted him on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road and stole about LE 100,000.
Hospital officials then went public refuting the MP’s claims, saying his bandages were actually the result of a rhinoplasty.
They said El-Belkemy was admitted to Salma Hospital on Feb. 27 for a nose job and paid the operation fees. The hospital’s manager also said the MP insisted on leaving the hospital on the same day.
The MP resigned from his party after an internal investigations committee discovered that his story about an alleged attack was false, according to a statement issued by Al-Nour on Monday.
The fate of his membership in parliament is yet to be decided.
However, the incident sparked a debate over doctor-patient confidentiality, and how much it is respected in Egypt; as well as the consequences for parliamentarians who lie.
“We give an oath to respect the secrets of honest patients, but this patient is dishonest,” El-Bedeiwy told DNE, denying accusations cited in the complaint.
Hussein disagreed, citing only a few cases where doctors are allowed to breach confidentiality: when keeping the secret poses a danger to the patient’s life, if the disease is highly contagious and may endanger others, or when summoned to testify in a court of law.
Officials at Salma Hospital are also accused of exploiting their patient to advertise for their hospital and make profit.
For his part, El-Bedeiwy said he has not yet been notified of the complaint.
“Hospital officials held press conferences and made statements to the media to scandalize the patient — this is completely unheard of in our profession,” Hussein said.
If convicted, the defendants face a fine, six-month imprisonment, or both, according to Article 30 of the penal code, said Hussein.
Also, the Doctors’ Syndicate may disbar the hospital officials if found guilty.
“Sometimes a patient confides in their doctor more than family, and this saves lives,” Hussein said.
El-Bedeiwy had filed a complaint of his own against El-Belkemy earlier this week, accusing him of lying and grand treason.
“He lied to the MPs and the people and this is grand treason,” El-Bedeiwy said. He also called for a moral compensation, reflected in a public apology.
In a phone call to Amr Adeeb’s talk show Sunday night, Al-Nour spokesman Nader Bakkar said the party drafted a resignation letter addressed to Parliament Speaker Saad Al-Katatny, which El-Belkemy signed.
However, El-Belkemy denied his resignation from parliament in an interview published in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Wednesday.
“I didn’t resign from parliament and I’m not thinking about it,” he said.
He refused to discuss the details of the alleged attack in the phone interview, claiming that he suffered from internal bleeding which caused him great pain.
El-Belkemy denied any wrongdoing, saying: “Even if a mistake took place when I was not in my full mental health…has the door to repentance been closed?”
