Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population has called on retired doctors to head back into the fray to treat coronavirus patients amid staffing shortages nationwide. In a Tuesday statement, the Ministry asked affiliated health directorates and authorities to report the required number of nurses, doctors, and pharmacists to be recalled from retirement at each department, on the condition that they have retired within the last two years. Meanwhile, the General Secretariat of Mental Health revealed on Tuesday that it has provided 80 medical personnel at different quarantines nationwide who offered psychosocial support to 420 coronavirus patients since 18 April. A hotline was launched since the beginning of the pandemic, with approximately 150 mental health and psychosocial support providers to help people get through the crisis. According to the statement, the hotline has received about 1,716 calls since April, providing psychological support to 913 citizens including 60 healthcare workers. Moreover, Director of the Central Public Health Laboratories Nancy El-Guindy said on Tuesday that 27 of the authority's workers have contracted coronavirus. In a televised phone interview, she asserted that those patients had not been infected while on duty, as they were in direct contact with coronavirus patients. The Health Ministry said that the number of COVID-19 infections among medical staff that had contacted directly with other coronavirus patients were 291 cases, of whom 11 died. The Ministry pointed out that quarantine hospitals still have more than 600 available beds, including 300 beds for intensive care. It also confirmed that the stock of preventive supplies in quarantine hospitals would be sufficient for two weeks.
