CAIRO: Doctors are set to go on a “partial,” open-ended strike starting Tuesday until their demands are met, in accordance with the decision of the general assembly held earlier this month Doctors are set to organize protests in front of the Cabinet and Doctors' Syndicates across the country simultaneously and are set to meet with Minister of Finance Samir Radwan later on Tuesday to discuss wages “Doctors are ready and more enthusiastic than the last strike and are angered by the statements of the minister and his assistants,” said Ramy Foad, member of the higher committee organizing the strike. The strike will include all but emergency and dialysis operations staff, emergency surgeries, deliveries and intensive care unit staff Doctors are demanding the dismissal of Minister of Health Ashraf Hatem, raising the health budget from 3.5 percent to 15 percent of the national budget, increasing wages and providing adequate security at hospitals. The Supreme Health Council decided in its meeting earlier this week, the first in 15 years, to raise wages to LE 1,500 for resident doctors and LE 1,400 for assigned doctors and to raise the minimum wage by 50 percent. It also decided to raise the budget of the Ministry of Health from LE 17 billion to LE 27 billion in next year's national budget. However doctors refused these decisions and said that their first demand was to discharge the minister himself. “We don't want a raise; we want social justice. How come the difference between me and the minimum wage (LE 1,200) of unqualified labor is LE 300 only,” Foad said. A delegation of doctors met late Monday with Prime Minister's media consultant, Ahmed El-Samman, upon his request for a “friendly meeting.” However, doctors said that whatever are the outcomes of the meeting, it won't affect the strike decision. Doctors held a “successful” one day strike on May 10. Response rates in Greater Cairo were estimated to be 65 percent and 90 percent outside Cairo with Port Said, Ismailia and Suez at 100 percent of its doctors on strike. A suggestion to strike three days per week was refused by doctors who demanded an open strike all days. Doctors filed five complaints Monday against Hatem accusing him of corruption while holding the post of the manager of Kasr El-Eini hospital and appointing “corrupt” leaderships at the ministry with exaggerated salaries. A number of socialist and youth movements organized a protest in front of the Doctors' Syndicate in support of the planned strike.
