CAIRO (Middle East Eye) – The health
sector in Egypt is at risk of collapse due to the unprecedented migration wave of Egyptian doctors, according to a report published by the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.
The latest statistics show that tens of thousands of doctors have left Egypt over the past three years, the London-based daily said.
Their migration has turned into a crisis in the country, which prompted a member of parliament to submit a request for a public debate to clarify the government’s policies on doctors leaving to work abroad.
MP Hazem El Gendy said during a parliamentary session this week that “during the recent period, especially the last three years, Egypt has witnessed an unprecedented migration wave of medical personnel, which trigger successive warnings, fears of the effects of these waves of migration on the Egyptian health system and the level of services provided to patients”.
He pointed out that the Doctors’ Syndicate has repeatedly demanded the government take urgent steps to stop the mass migration of young doctors at a time of a severe deficit in their number and the small number of students being admitted to medical schools, all of which threaten the future of medical care in Egypt.
The lawmaker revealed statistics which show that about 110,000 doctors have left the country in the past three years - half of Egypt’s estimated 215,000 doctors.
“The reason for the emigration of doctors is the low wages,” he said, “as well as the low medical capacity and supplies inside public hospitals, despite the increase in budgets allocated to the medical sector and its tangible development - in addition to seeking better opportunities for scientific research and the lack of legal protection for doctors in the exercise of their profession, as many of them are subjected to verbal and sometimes physical abuse inside hospitals by patients’ families.”