CAIRO: A doctors' committee said it plans to go on strike on Sept. 9 against the Egyptian Ministry of Health and the Doctors' Syndicate for their failure to provide financial raises they had been asking for since last year. "The protest will be a statement against the failure of the Syndicate to retrieve the rights of doctors in Egypt and in objection to the Syndicate chairman's refusal to participate with the young doctors in this strike, a statement by the committee read. The strike will involve all public hospitals and clinics, where doctors will not work for one day, according to the statement. In reaction to this statement, Dr Farid Ismail, high board member of the Arab Doctors' Union and a member of the People's Assembly's health committee, told Daily News Egypt that the doctors have full right to ask for better pay and work conditions. "The state of doctors in Egypt is horrible and the government should pay more attention to doctors and nurses before it develops any other aspect of the health sector, Ismail said. On Thursday, board members of the Doctor's Syndicate and affiliate syndicates nationwide, led by MP Hamdy El-Sayyed, threatened to resign in protest at the government's "procrastination in paying the second phase of raises, according to an official press statement. Last April, the Doctors' Syndicate held another protest also demanding higher salaries. They have been demanding a minimum wage of at least LE 1,000 per month, which they have not yet been able to secure.
