Thursday, June 18, 2020
Press Release
Today, Thursday, June 18, Forum of Development and Human Rights Dialogue (FDHRD) issued a report on Syndicates and their role in protecting their members from the Corona virus.
The report monitored the measures taken by the Syndicates of Lawyers, Journalists and the General Syndicate of Doctors to protect members from the Corona virus, which varied between combat measures, financial measures, subsidies, and communication with state institutions to provide means of protection and support for their members.
With regard to Lawyers Syndicate, the report referred to the measures taken, the most important of which was the formation of an emergency committee to combat the Corona epidemic, the allocation of a hotline to receive reports from lawyers about Corona injuries, and the disinfection of the union’s headquarters in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. In addition to, the installation of two sterilization gates at the union’s headquarters on Ramses Street and the river bar club in Maadi, conducting initial analyzes to diagnose Corona in the laboratories contracted with it in the union’s carnet, allocating two buses to transport lawyers infected with the Corona virus to hospitals, and contracting with Ain Shams University Specialized Hospital to do Corona group analyzes instead of a swab, according to the new treatment protocols of the Ministry of Health. As well as, contacting and cooperating with the Ministry of Health to purify the union’s headquarters, as well as communication with the Ministry of Defense, where the armed forces supplied the union with 150 thousand masks, worth 650 thousand pounds, which will be provided to lawyers at a price of L.E 2 per mask, while the union will bear the rest, as well as contracting with Assiut University Hospital to enter Corona virus cases at discounted prices.
On the other hand, the report indicated that a member of the union announced the formation of a rescue and relief front for lawyers from those infected with the Corona epidemic and those who are in domestic isolation to provide them with treatment, living and professional support. The front included a group of senior lawyers in Egypt.
The report drew attention to the most important demands and proposals of members in light of the current conditions of the spread of the Corona virus, the most important of which was the preparation of some lawyers’ clubs as places for quarantine, and the increase of the amount allocated for analyzes and radiology, the payment of the pension of one payment in full for the deceased Corona to his heirs. The entitlement of the full reward, the entitlement of the heirs to the maximum pension for the maximum period of service, and a proposal to convert some of the Syndicate’s buses into ambulances at the rate of 2 in each governorate to transport injured lawyers to hospitals.
As for cases of injury and death among members of Lawyer syndicate, according to the daily data issued by the Syndicate, there are 127 cases of injury, while deaths have reached about 20.
For the Journalists Syndicate, the report referred to the measures taken by the Syndicate Council to protect members and their families. The most important of which was forming a committee to confront the spread of the Corona virus to communicate with members of the press, and issuing a daily statement in which the latest developments of the Corona virus are announced among the members of the Syndicate, and smart sterilization unit and thermal detection unit were also purchased as a precautionary measure to protect the Syndicate visitors and employees as soon as they enter the union building. And opening the exceptional accession to the treatment project, for a period of 15 days, without a fine. Besides, conducting analysis at reduced prices, conducting corona smears without charging journalists, members of the treatment project and their families any financial cost in Kasr Al-Ainy Hospitals affiliated with Cairo University, and providing beds and rooms for isolation in the hospitals of the Ministry of Health, for those journalists and their families who are proven to be infected. In addition to making masks and alcohol available at symbolic prices, it was also agreed with the “Technoclinic” Medical Center to conduct medical analyzes for the Corona virus, with discounts of up to 80% for journalists and their families from union members and trainees.
The National Press Authority had concluded medical protocols with the Egyptian Railways Medical Center and Ain Shams Specialized Hospital to provide medical services to people infected with the Corona virus.
The report also monitored the demands and suggestions of the Syndicate members, which were represented in the establishment of an isolation hospital inside the union headquarters or even outside it by allocating the river club on Al-Bahr Al-Aazham Street, or even allocating an isolation hospital for journalists only.
The cases of infection and death, according to what the committee announced until the first of June, were 10 cases and 6 deaths.
For the General Syndicate of Doctors, the report monitored the measures taken by the Syndicate to protect its members also from the Corona virus. The most prominent of which was the allocation of the Syndicate’s observatory to receive complaints from doctors from all over the Republic in the case of infection with the Corona virus or in case of suspicion, and organizing awareness campaigns and training for doctors about the Corona epidemic and making simulation videos to educate and train doctors on How to follow the correct control methods during their work, as well as the establishment of an observatory to track the chaos of wrong medical practices during the crisis.
The report of FDHRD referred to the Syndicate’s constant endeavor with state institutions to provide means of protection and support for doctors, paying attention to the meeting of the Doctors Syndicate and the Prime Minister on May 28, 2020, during which the Prime Minister decided several decisions. The most important of which is the treatment of deceased doctors as a result of infection with the Corona virus as “ Martyrs” such as the army and police in financial terms, expanding the conduct of PCR analyzes for medical staff in contact with Corona cases, allocating places to isolate members of the medical team from Corona patients in all hospitals at the level of the Republic, and opening channels of communication between the General Syndicate of Doctors, the Ministry and the government on an ongoing basis.
As well as the meeting of the Doctors Syndicate with the Minister of Health on May 31 at the Ministry’s general office, in which she emphasized the interest of the Ministry and the state’s agencies in implementing measures to protect medical teams and praised their efforts in dealing with the pandemic.
The most important requests and proposals of members of the Medical Syndicate were the necessity of making different paths to separate patients suspected of being infected with Corona from patients reluctant to be treated for other diseases or to dispense treatment at state expense, and to take measures to reduce the crowding of patients in reception departments, and the need to provide the highest standards of personal condoms and infection control supplies. Taking into account the performance test of the protective mask after wearing it to ensure that there is no leakage during work, and taking into account the housing conditions of doctors and nursing, so that safe inter-familial distances are adhered to, and the housing is frequently disinfected, so that housing does not become a place for spreading infection among members of the medical staff, and the need to provide Effective police insurance for hospitals.
The cases of infected and deaths among doctors, according to what was monitored, and the deaths announced by the Syndicate on its website, were 291 cases, while there were 51 deaths.
