Founded by a group of medical students hailing from Cairo University, a new non-profit organisation known as "Patient Support Team" (PST) is bringing the magic of Harry Potter and the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft to Cairo in aid of Abo El-Reesh children's hospital. On Saturday 29 August, the day-long Harry Potter Festival – under the hashtag "#halfbloodsphinx" – will bring all the wonders of J K Rowling's world-famous novels to Rafaheya in Giza. Namely, the event will offer participants a chance to play the infamous quidditch game, indulge in legions of thematic food and drink and satisfy all their Harry Potter merchandise needs in the shopping bazaar. The group behind the festival, PST, are passionate about creating various initiatives to raise money for the Abo El-Reesh children's hospital – a university hospital based in Munira. Funds raised through events such as the Harry Potter Festival will go towards providing resources and support for public and university hospitals – many of which rely on medical students – allowing them to provide better service for poorer patients. As well as raising money through events, PST allows people to "adopt" a medical case by sponsoring an individual's treatment. This gives donators total certainty of where their money is being spent. There is increasing concern about the state of Egypt's healthcare system, including paediatric services. Earlier this year, shocking images showing unhygienic and deprived conditions in hospitals from all over Egypt surfaced on social media. However, there have been a series of recent initiatives to provide better quality, free healthcare to Egyptians. For example, recently, Egypt established the first free breast cancer hospital in the region, which provides treatment and diagnostic services for women, as well as psychiatric help. Egypt is also home to the renowned 57357 Children's Cancer hospital, which provides free cancer treatment to children, and was awarded the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) award for development. Source: Egyptian Streets
