Sarah Carr reports:
In a protest outside the People’s Assembly Sunday doctors said they will launch strike action on March 15 if their demands for improved pay were not met.
This is the second protest in a fortnight to be organized by the Doctors’ Syndicate.
Ahmad Imam, a member of the Syndicate, told Daily News Egypt that the Syndicate will meet Health Ministry representatives next month.
“The assistant health minister will meet with the Syndicate on March 4. If our demands are not met we will launch a two-hour symbolic strike on the March 15,” Imam explained.
The Doctors’ Syndicate is calling for a LE 1,000 minimum wage for doctors.
Young doctors at the beginning of their career are paid an average of LE 230.
Head of the Doctors’ Syndicate Hamdy El-Sayyed told reporters at the protest that poor pay threatens to drive doctors out of the profession.
“A doctor who works in Heliopolis and travels every day to work in 15th of May City, earns LE 180 a month. How can LE 180 be enough for a young doctor who has spent eight years studying? How can he continue his studies and start a family on this wage?” El-Sayyed asked.
So everyone is taking strike action: workers, civil servants, and now the professionals. Hosni, you and your pigs are fucked!