Assaults on state-owned hospitals have become disturbingly frequent. Ahmed Morsy asks if such lack of security is the only reason A series of attacks on state-owned hospitals around Egypt have been taking place regularly for almost a month now. Reacting to such recurrent incidents, the Doctors Syndicate issued a harsh statement on its website on 11 August, threatening that doctors will no longer work at hospitals which lack proper security. "We urgently call for providing hospitals with police troops to secure and protect them," read the statement. The Interior Ministry on its part agreed on Monday to allocate a specialised unit to secure hospitals and to provide the reception and emergency units with cameras. Al-Qasr Al-Aini Hospital in downtown Cairo closed its emergency room two weeks ago after gunmen stormed the space, attacking patients and staff. Ahmed Yousri, a doctor working for Al-Qasr Al-Aini Hospital, which witnessed more than two incidents this month, blamed the lack of sufficient security. "We got used to such assaults," Yousri said. "When there is a dangerous assault," he added, "an armed force is dispatched to the hospital to protect it. However, they leave the hospital one or two days later and so incidents occur again." But that is not all. "Sometimes, policemen say they have not been given orders to handle the situation." This week, two families were engaged in a fight outside the Shubra Public Hospital. After the brawl was over, the hospital received one of the victims of the fight. When the other family learned that someone from the rival family accompanied by a group of his relatives was inside, they stormed the hospital to take revenge and began firing guns inside the building. Fortunately, none of the doctors was injured. On 9 August, three doctors were injured in a similar incident at a Luxor hospital. Earlier in the same month, two families were fighting outside the Mahalla Public Hospital at night. An ambulance carried two victims of the fight into the hospital, each of whom belonged to a different family. When one of the two families knew that their relative had died, they stormed the hospital and, while the doctors were examining the other victim, kicked out doctors and nurses and killed the patient before the rest of the family joined in to continue the fight. In addition, on 25 July, Ismailia witnessed an armed robbery of its public hospital. Another two attacks happened in Sohag and Damietta also in July. Abdel-Fattah Rizq, secretary-general of the Doctors Syndicate, stressed the fact that, for months, the syndicate has been complaining about such incidents and calling for the participation of military police as long as the Interior Ministry fails to respond adequately. "We believe that there might be a conspiracy behind such assaults. We suspect that some policemen may be inciting thugs against doctors. Sometimes, policemen refuse to file reports of an attack and ask the person filing the complaint to drop the report," Rizq says, adding that some figures from the former regime might also be behind the chaos and disorder. An official source from the Interior Ministry was lately quoted as saying that a plan for securing hospitals will be implemented over the next few days in 100 facilities in Greater Cairo and some other cities. Hospitals will be hooked up to the emergency police via a wireless network, the source said. "Meanwhile, the syndicate has been pressing for the establishment of a police department specialised in securing hospitals, as this would help control the fast deteriorating status-quo," Ahmed Hussein, a member of syndicate board, says. Recently, members of the Doctors Syndicate considered arming doctors as a "last resort" if the Egyptian government is unable to provide adequate security. Hussein, however, rejects the idea. "Arming doctors was mentioned by the Doctors Syndicate mainly to put pressure on the government for more security. It's an impossible idea in my opinion. Nevertheless, it's not always thugs and outlaws who attack hospitals. Sometimes it's just Egyptian citizens desperate for acceptable healthcare." Hussein tried to shed light on insufficient supplies and equipment in the state-owned hospitals which for him is "one of the core reasons behind these incidents: the Health Ministry's budget needs to be reviewed and raised." Khaled Ezzat is a Sharabiya Public Hospital doctor who has the same opinion. "Doctors are sometimes insulted, attacked with knives, bottles, shotguns, and subject to physical violence by the patients' families who are desperate for service and supplies. I think of it as a patients' revolution over the poor health system and poor services. You can imagine when a doctor tells a patient's family that the hospital doesn't have an emergency room or facilities available for that patient�ê�"
