Speaker of the People's Assembly Fathi Sorour has sent to the Ministry of Interior all documents relating to violations in the provision of state-financed medical treatment alleged to have been commited by some members of parliament. Sorour took action in response to a letter sent to him by the health minister and an early-day motion submitted by People's Assembly member Mostafa el-Bakri. Sorour asked the interior minister to carry out all necessary investigations to uncover the truth about the alleged violations. Hamdi el-Sayyed, head of the People's Assembly's Health Committee, held a meeting on Sunday attended by those MPs involved in the current crisis. In order to avoid media coverage the meeting was not announced by el-Sayyed. One of the MPs attending was Shams Anwar from the National Democratic Party, who also serves as deputy of the health ministry in Beheira. Sources said el-Sayyid decided to hold the meeting with MPs before convening a general meeting for the Health Committee to discuss the crisis. Meanwhile, Gamalat Rafea, a member of the People's Assembly from the ruling National Democratic Party, staged a sit-in inside one of the Specialized Medical Councils after Mohamed Abdeen, head of the Specialized Medical Councils, refused to approve decisions providing state-financed medical care to citizens in Rafea's constituency, even though the deputy health minister had already signed approval. Rafea suspended her sit-in after receiving a phone call from the Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Legislative Councils, who promised to solve the problem. Rafea is ninth on a list of 25 MPs who, between 1 September 2009 and 31 December 2009, receivedapproval for medical treatment with a total cost of LE250 million. Rafea alone received approval for state-financed care worth more than LE10 million during that period. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
