CAIRO - Raising the Ministry of Health's share of the State budget from 3.5 per cent to 15 per cent tops the demands to be made by Egypt's doctors in a rally on Sunday. The rally will start at the Medical Syndicate (Dar el-Hekma) in the downtown Cairo Qasr el-Aini Street and the doctors will march to the nearby Cabinet headquarters. The country's new budget starts on July 1. The Higher Committee for the Doctors' Strike said in a statement that the doctors want more money, so that they can offer “real medical services and provide the necessary medical supplies”. The statement urged doctors and everyone else employed in the medical sector nationwide to take part in the rally. The committee said that they had suspended their strike almost two weeks ago, after receiving promises from Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and Minister of Finance to double the Ministry's spending. Later, a committee delegation learnt from officials in the Planning and Budgeting Department at the Ministry of Health, that health expenditure will rise from LE23.5 billion ($3.94 billion) this fiscal year, that ends on June 30, to LE27 billion in the new FY (2011-2012). “This meagre rise only represents inflation in the total budget; it doesn't represent a real rise in the Health Ministry's share in the State budget,” the statement added. Following the meeting with the Planning and Budgeting Department at the Ministry of Health, the delegation concluded that the State does not intend to help this vital sector that has suffered negligence for many years. Doctor Mona Mina, co-ordinator of the Doctors without Rights movement and a member of the strike supervisory committee, said that, when they asked about the new wage structure being promoted by the media, they learnt that there would be no rise in basic salaries but rather in the ‘variable remuneration'. “In short we have the impression that the health of the Egyptian people is still the least important thing for the State, even after the January 25 Revolution,” Mina said. “There is an urgent need for a quick move.” The doctors' strike began on May 10 nationwide in governmental clinics and hospitals, calling for improving the medical care system in Egypt. Their demands also include sacking the Health Minister, providing adequate security at hospitals and introducing a fair pay scale. The strike was suspended after the Higher Committee met with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance on May 19.
