CAIRO: Accusations from Egypt's opposition against the country's foreign ministry reaction to an Egyptian doctor being shot inside a Saudi Arabia hospital has led to the ministry affirming its committment to Egyptians working abroad. In a statement by Mohamed Abdel Hakam, the Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs and Egyptians abroad, said that the ministry is “following closely” the health of Mohamed Hany, who was shot at a Saudi hospital as well as Mohamed Samir Abdel Fatah, who was assaulted in a Kuwaiti hospital. Abdel Hakam said on Sunday that in the case of Hany, the Consulate General in Jeddah immediately took action upon learning of the incident and contacted the Saudi authorities to issue a comprehensive report on the incident “and to take urgent action to provide and secure the necessary protection for the 25 Egyptian doctors working in the hospital where the accident happened.” He added that “the Egyptian consulate followed closely the situation of Egyptian doctor Mohamed Hany and contacts were intensified with the Saudi Authorities, who transferred him to King Fahd Medical City Hospital in Riyadh, on a private jet on September 7.” Hany was shot a number of times in different parts of the body, a medical worker at the al-Tathlith hospital said. Abdel Hakam noted that the Saudi authorities had arrested the Saudi citizen who shot the doctor and is being investigated. He added that a representative from the Egyptian consulate in Riyadh visited the Egyptian doctor in King Fahd Medical City Hospital several times, “as the Egyptian Consul General did on Saturday, where he met with the medical crew treating the doctor.” The ministry confirmed that the doctor is receiving full care at the center arguing that the issue of the doctor “received the attention of all Saudi officials, including the governor of al-Tathlith governorate in addition to the Saudi minister of health and the Emir of the Southern region.” According to the statement, the ministry has been in contact with Hany's wife and family, who “thanked” the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah for its efforts. “The foreign minister contacted the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Cairo to give the doctor's wife and his brother, visas to Saudi Arabia to stay beside her husband.” Regarding the case of Abdel Fattah, the Egyptian Consulate General in Kuwait upon learning of the incident “dispatched one of its representatives to visit the doctor at the hospital where he is being treated to check on his safety and make sure that the Kuwaiti authorities arrested the perpetrators.” Like in Saudi, Abdel Hakam said that the incident attracted great interest from all Kuwaiti officials. He said the Kuwaiti interior ministry issued a statement condemning the attack on the Egyptian doctor and stressed that the ministry will spare no effort to deter and stop the continuous attacks on doctors. “The Kuwaiti Medical Society condemned the attack and called on the Kuwaiti National Assembly to adopt the application of law to protect doctors from constant attacks on them during the performance of their duties.” Abdel Hakam said that the four brothers who attacked the Egyptian doctor were sent to the general prosecutor of Kuwait and are facing misdemeanor charges. **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
