Terrible Egyptian hospital conditions force mass doctors' walkout

They say hospital overcrowding still forces sick patients to sleep on the floor.

Families are forced to bring in their relatives' basic necessities such as blood bags and painkillers, as hospitals lack the money to buy them.

Doctors working in public hospitals receive a salary of around £28 per month and most of them hold other jobs in private hospitals to make ends meet.

"Poor people rely on these hospitals whether they like it or not," said Dr Mona Mina.

"But they are disgusted by them and argue with the doctors, who are also disgusted by them.

"They are filthy places with no facilities."

Public health receives 4.8 per cent of state budget - but around 30 per cent of that goes to pay for sewage systems and another 30 per cent for Health Ministry administrators' salaries.

Doctors' union spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Hamid said public hospitals were "dumps."

In his own, the emergency room's injection painkillers have not been replenished in over a month.

"And this is in greater Cairo. Imagine how it would be if you got a little bit further out of the capital," he said.

"Nothing has changed since the revolution."

Dr Abdel-Hamid said over 70 per cent of the country's 520 public hospitals are taking part in the strike.

The strike began after negotiations with the government failed to secure a pledge for increases in the health budget.

foreigneditor@peoples-press.com