Egyptian members parliament, at a meeting of the body's health committee on Monday, rejected the new bylaws that suggest privatizing public hospitals during the afternoon shift starting at 1PM. They considered the new bylaws a step towards the privatization of the health ministry, and called for increasing the health ministry's budget in order to provide more free medical treatment. “The health ministry is at its worst under the current minister,” said MP Abdel Salam Moussa from the ruling National Democratic Party, which prompted the Shura Council speaker Safwat al-Sherif to omit Moussa's statement from the minutes of the meeting. Health Minister Hatem al-Gabaly, for his part, defended the new bylaws. “Low-income citizens would be treated for free until 1PM, whereas the deadline was 11AM under the old bylaws,” he said. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
