Egyptian doctors are tired and frustrated with the way they have been treated by the Ministry of Health and believe the incentives and compensation are not adequate for their work. The Chairman of the Doctor's Syndicate Dr. Hamdy el-Sayyed sent a request to Minister of Health Hatem el-Jabali asking him to take more effective measures to improve the standard of living of doctors in Egypt. He said previous incentives offered by the minister "did not end their [the doctor's] suffering." In the letter, el-Sayyed said doctors had lost patience, as incentives paid out one month are forgotten the next. He warned that doctors are frustrated and were beginning to feel as if they no longer were an important part of the country. "The health of our citizenry is something precious, and as the performance of our doctors is the principle determinant of their health, doctors must be treated as a priority," he said. He added that the leadership of the Ministry of Health has frequently violated the rights of doctors, and the syndicate receives depressing complaints from young doctors daily. Doctors spend a lot of time in their studies and in work, and are rewarded with poor living conditions, despite the incentives adopted by the Health Ministry, he added. El-Sayyid sent two additional letters to the minister in the same package. The first letter was written by a doctor who said he required charity as do several other doctors. He reflected upon the the places where the doctors are required to live, the quality of their training and the medical treatment they and their families receive despite having hospitals for the professional syndicates. The other letter said, "We almost cannot afford our daily bread and dream of paying for a taxi to take us to work. We have completely forgotten the dream of marriage, and our greatest hope now is buying a new shirt or a pair of shoes. We have lost our sense of belonging to the nation, and our dream is not just working abroad, but the attainment of a citizenship that is not Egyptian.” He stressed that his colleagues and him were not psychologically qualified to interact with their patients and to listen to their complaints. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
