CAIRO: MP Farid Ismail requested the questioning of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif for allowing the licensing of factories that recycle medical waste that includes contaminated chemical substances detrimental to public health. Ismail alleged that the factories mainly specialize in "manufacturing plastic and medical products. He alleged that there are "thousands of those factories in various parts of Egypt. "The government has recently cracked down on some of those factories and it was revealed that they used around 36 tons of hospital and restaurant waste, he told Daily News Egypt. Ismail, who is also a member in the People's Assembly's (PA) health committee, said that "the use of such substances constitutes a major health hazard leading to kidney disease or even kidney failure, he said. He alleges that many gangs have emerged as a result of the presence of those factories. "The Egyptian government should punish all the authorities responsible for the presence of those factories along with all the monitoring bodies that should not have allowed those factories to emerge in the first place. Several television reports have indicated that public hospital waste in Egypt can reach tens of tons per day and in theory it should be incinerated. However, the government has not provided sufficient facilities to do so and the monitoring institutions that should have supervised the waste management process have also failed. Ismail's interrogation request also included the Minister of Health, Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister of State for Environmental Affairs and the Minister of Interior. On Wednesday, a day before he filed this request, Ismail filed another questioning to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior regarding the increase of narcotics in Sharqiya governorate, which Ismail represents in the PA. "Drug dealers work in broad daylight and in public places and their locations are known to the public, he said. He questioned why nothing is being done about it.
